live inspired: point reyes

my friends steph & sei wei came into town from beijing, so we spent four days together in one of our favorite places: point reyes. their good friend jeff also joined us from the east coast to take a few days to relax and to be with.

the last time i saw s&s, they hadn't yet conceived a small child (because you know, people conceive small children, not embryos) and definitely hadn't given birth to one. and the time before that, it was their wedding day. things change - a lot.

steph and i lived together during one of the toughest years of my life: 2005-2006. she saw me through a year of unraveling. and this past week, we reflected about how much each of us have changed since then. she has become a spontaneous and nurturing mother, kind wife, and light-hearted friend. and i was delighted to still experience her as a curious and adventurous kindred spirit, the quality that first drew my heart to hers, and vice versa.

connecting with s&s was without a doubt, meaningful, fun, and life-giving. sei wei is a good, good man, husband, and father. :) but the real surprise was connecting with jeff. i thoroughly enjoyed hearing his stories, interacting with his quirky nature, and bantering about our major differences. we are entirely different on many superficial levels. he has three higher ed degrees, is a b-school grad who can solve math problems within seconds, lives by his watch and his plans, and always stays at sheraton hotels because of his mileage points! i'm a banana slug who studied anthro (but questions if school was even for me), daydreams about outdoor survival school (but unique schooling experiences are ok), likes to scrap plans, and looks for hostels and/or campgrounds for my travel accommodations. but at the core, i found that we are both in some regard, vagabonds. independent travelers who find our way into strangers' lives and they into ours; we are marked by those encounters. i don't meet very many people who share that quality. so even if just for four days, i felt like i was reunited a long-lost tribemate. i'm thankful for a new friend!

and i haven't forgotten nathan. i'll let the pictures speak for themselves. but one thing i learned about children is that it's both the quality and quantity of consistent time spent with them makes the relationship. it was delightful to see him warm up to me each day... (but my guess is that feeding him ice cream/brownies and behaving like a wild cave woman helped that process move along more quickly.)

& of course...photos! i find that point reyes draws out some of my most inspired work. my heart is at peace and i am at home. so when in that space, i can give birth to what i love - the spectacularly ordinary joys of life.