Potential Resource

Patricia Butler, a Creative Oasis Network member and psychotherapist sent info about this publication and radio program to share with Networkers. It looks interesting.

“Beyond 50,” is an online radio show for Baby Boomers (in their 40s – 60s) that can be heard weekly and is affiliated with “Natural Awakenings” magazine, a local monthly publication that’s all about the natural, holistic and eco-friendly lifestyle. See more information about the magazine and the October edition at this link: http://www.naportland.com/images/Oct07Issue.pdf

For more about the radio show, go online to http://www.beyond50radio.com/
(Note: They’re currently reconstructing the website so it’s down temporarily.)
To hear sample recordings of the show, just click on this link: http://www.naportland.com/interviews.htm

A Year to Live

A few nights ago our monthly book group discussed the book, A Year to Live by Stephen Levine. It had been my recommendation last month, I think, and another member heartily endorsed it as she had read it already. We agreed that it would be an interesting book for discussion.

Within a week, I got rumblings from book group members that they weren’t finding it easy to read. Also, soon after that meeting, one of the group members found out that she was once again needing treatment for a recurrent serious health issue. While we all had a great time visiting and enjoying the wine and goodies provided by our hostess, it was a tough discussion. We each seemed to be distracted in our own way. THIS IS A DIFFICULT SUBJECT – this death/dying thing… I felt somewhat defensive about the book.

Agreed, it was hard to read, not just because of the subject, but his treatment of the material and his “words” seemed rather dated given that Levine, a 30-year practitioner of western Buddhism, wrote the book over 10 years ago while training people to help support others through the dying process. It ended up that we had an interesting frank albeit somewhat uncomfortable discussion of our responses to the book.


That night I had a dream that I was with two other friends and we were having a sleep-over that ended up being a very late night discussion about the many ups and downs of life and our concern for our friend who is dealing with the health issue. In this dream, I go to the bathroom and find my mother, who died 14 years ago, in a dry bathtub, fully clothed. Surprised, I apologized for keeping her awake with our late-night discussion. We talked while she remained laying in the tub. She was so very supportive, more so than I remember... as she was often tapped out by our large family, but the tone of our talk was that she assured me that everything would be okay.


I woke up during the night with that dream vivid in my mind and realized that it was a good dream all around. How special it was to have an extremely rare meeting with my mother and the result of our talk left me reassured about my friend. I wanted to share this experience with others. Let’s face it… the subject of death and dying is up for us… not necessarily at this moment, but sooner or later. Whether it is the inevitability of our own, family members, friends.... we will deal with this many times. Perhaps we can be more supportive and compassionate with ourselves and others so that we may more fully enjoy our lives and to accept that this is the natural process.



Nancy

After leaving the docks at 7:00pm we headed for our first port St. Helen's. We had been there before so we knew the docks and were over-ready for some breathing space. We just left the docks with 75 friends and family waving good-bye. We still could not believe we actually left on time!!! I was tired, sad, happy and excited. We took a couple of days getting to Astoria. It felt like we had all the time in the world, no schedules, no work, just the sailboat.

Getting into Astoria is a bit overwhelming. There are tons of boats and cargo barges. The Coast Guard always talking on the boat radio made all of this so real and we felt like a part of this new community of boat people. Boat people ... Who are they ?? Who were we now? Before we left, living on our boat and on the river made us a part of a very tight boating community. There was instant friends and support. I had the feeling a lot was said to each other without uttering a word. Now we were moving and traveling on the river to the ocean, we had a destination... Ireland. People on the new docks already started to ask us where we were from and where were we going? So we started sharing this information, " We are on our way to Ireland." It even sounded a little far fetched. We knew we were going to Ireland, but it did not feel like others thought we would ever get there.

Many boat people have life long dreams and plans of travel. Taking a boat anyplace requires money, goals, flexiblity, a safe boat, skill, dreams, more money. Many people start out to sail only to find out it is not the life for them. Relationships may not weather well on the water. Clothes feel wet most of the time. There is mildrew here, there and everywhere. You smell like diesel fuel in restaurants. Most of the time you are yearning for a long bubble bath. Your hair is stiff and straw like. Families start to wonder if you are making good choices. Boat people are a special group, the connection is strong and we were kindred spirits.

When we got to Astoria docks, Jim called on the radio for a slip assignment. We learn to have a pencil handy to write down this information, they talk way too fast for me on the radio. This is not a private conversation either. All boats can listen to the station you are talking on. It is like an old telephone party line. Most boaters try to sound very boatie. There is a whole other language for the radio you should know, one that I had not mastered yet. We figured the slip assignment out, Jim docked the boat and I jumped off and tied up Transcedence to the cleat on the docks. First things first: where is the shower and let's take a look around the town. More another time... Kay