A Lesson in Flexibility

When we first envisioned this "year", we thought we'd be heading out to India right about now.... things haven't quite gone as planned. 

> We planned to do a Point Reyes backpacking trip in April for our 10-year wedding anniversary, but coronavirus hit and shut everything down. 

> We decided to continue with our plans for a "year off" even with all the coronavirus madness, hoping that we could get to India by October. 

> India has been really bad coronavirus-wise, so we thought, maybe Oaxaca? Well... Amaani's passport is expired and it's taking MONTHS for passport renewal because of Covid-related shutdowns. We'll probably have her passport around December or January.

> We planned to go to Chicago for about a month and spend time with family... we did that!

> We planned to come back to California and finally do our Point Reyes backpacking trip, and then go to Big Basin with my family. A fire broke out in BOTH Point Reyes and Big Basin.

> We planned to camp around California for a month... fires exploded all over the state. I didn't have to cancel any reservations, though, because they all got cancelled automatically as fire and/or smoke engulfed the different locations.

> We planned (and are still planning) to go to Washington state and stay with a friend in the small town of Sequim...and camp on our way up there. Fires then hit Oregon and Washington at a never-seen-before scale. 

Through this all... I think we've done a pretty good job of just rolling with it and exploring what the next opportunity may be, and what opportunity is placed in front of us instead. We got to spend extended time in Chicago with Astha's family... her dad, our nephew, Bodhi, Arpit, and Sam... and do great trips in the Midwest. We now are getting an opportunity to spend time with my parents. Amidst the pandemic and quarantine, this probably means a lot to them to break the monotony... and Amaani has had this chance to spend time with her grandparents, her cousin Bodhi, Mama, Mami, Bua, and her cousins Ishi and Saavi. She's also making friends wherever we are... and having a good time. And, we're spending so much time... as family, and having so many conversations, and just connecting... ups and downs. =)

Also, we realize while, yeah, these disasters are roadblocks to our plans... we are still privileged. Our lives are not in danger. Our financial situation is fine. Our families are fine. We have so many different options and paths that we can take. We know that Covid and the West Coast wildfires and the current state of affairs in our country have upended so many plans, so many livelihoods, so many lives.... what we're experiencing can't even be classified as a "challenge". This is definitely a huge back-n-forth in our mind... with the state of our country the way it is, with all the challenges our people in Oakland are facing... it feels weird to be doing this "year away".... still grappling with this. 

So for now, we just did a self-organized 2-day silent meditation retreat at an AirBNB on a farm in.... Fremont (separate post about that soon). Next week, we will take a 2 night trip to Capitola with my parents and sister's family... it'll be nice for my parents to get out after being home for 6+ months consecutively cause of Covid! 

Our next goal is to get to Sequim, Washington, and spend time with Ankur and the community there. We just spoke with him a few days ago, and I think it excited both of us... and also just remembering his warmth and awesomeness... it's been MANY years since our paths last crossed! It'll be our first time there... and I just want to see what life will be like there, see what we can experience, what value we can add. The pace will be different, surrounded by nature, more rooted in the land, strong sense of community... at least that's what I envision. Let's see... the hope is to head out Thursday or Friday.