The Bohemian – Page 20 – For the Archives

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Jessica Dofflemyer · 7 Comments

Making Dreams Come True

My unconscious self must be trying to elevate me from the ground-down stasis of my current physical challenge. The challenge being this humbling pinched nerve in my hip (detailed in yesterday’s post).

Last night in my dreams, I was ready for lift-off. The fire was lit, and I was in the basket of a hot air balloon, on the verge of launching billowing, striped colors to the sky.

It’s always good to get fresh perspectives.

Like Jeb’s, who was the one to point out my dreams. Not last night’s, but the one I had 34 years ago, back in second grade.

He and I were looking through my little “School Days” scrapbook. The one made for holding keepsakes from kindergarten through graduation. Throughout my time in school, I faithfully completed every year, inserting report cards and special awards. I filled out each year’s form, writing in the spaces about friends, favorite sports, and hobbies.

In second grade, “Additional Information” contained a wish.

Jeb turned the page to third grade.

“Hey, the next year you wrote: ‘I love…Gerardo?…I want to ride in a hot air balloon with him.’ Who’s Gerardo?”

“Ah,right. He was a boy in my class from Mexico, who didn’t speak much English. He was really quiet, but I liked him.”

“You wanted to ride in a hot air balloon for two years in a row, Mom.”

“And I haven’t yet.”

So to wake this morning with dreamtime memories of lift off, makes me think it’s time this little fantasy comes true.

No hot air balloons in Hawaii. But how about the Czech Republic?

Our family is slowly planning a summer trip back to the Bohemian’s homeland. A quick online search this morning reveals a company in Prague that offers hot air balloon rides, year-round. You can float above ancient castles, and see a bird’s eye view of the countryside and forests.

Maybe no Gerardo (though I hope he is well, wherever he may be). But a hot air balloon with my two other dreams-come-true: my son and my husband? Airborne in Europe? Well, that’s more than I could have imagined when I was seven.

Sounds like a Must to me.

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Jessica Dofflemyer · 3 Comments

See Through

“Trappings and charm wear off… Let people see you. They see your upper arms are beautiful, soft and clean and warm, and then they will see this about their own, some of the time. It’s called having friends, choosing each other, getting found, being fished out of the rubble. It blows you away, how this wonderful event ever happened — me in your life, you in mine.

Two parts fit together. This hadn’t occurred all that often, but now that it does, it’s the wildest experience. It could almost make a believer out of you. Of course, life will randomly go to hell every so often, too. Cold winds arrive and prick you: the rain falls down your neck: darkness comes. But now there are two of you: Holy Moly.”

~Anne Lamott “Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace“

special thanks to Brainpickings for highlighting this book and quote

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Jessica Dofflemyer · 3 Comments

The Evolution of our Abode

We’ve been living in our abode for nine months now. It’s been a process of fine-tuning our surroundings to feel at home, while trying to maximize the use of what’s around.

One place of satisfying evolution has been the garage. With the door open, an incredible breeze blows through from the distant ocean. When we moved in, the space was storage for rusting barbecues, trash cans, and old five-gallon buckets of paint. Everything was covered in a film of red dirt.

I dug out the gravel in the bordering beds and planted some succulents. We moved out the massive barbecue.

We gave the zone a good sweeping, and positioned a few chairs by the fresh starts. Recently, we filled an old bathtub and added a water garden. Some rickety, but beautiful, carved panels had been tucked in storage in a far corner. The Bohemian and I hauled them out of hiding, deciding that if they need to be stored, they might as well be seen and appreciated.

The transformation is still in process, but it’s fascinating to observe how it’s evolving.

Here’s a post from April, when I was in the initial stages of change.