Sunday, August 10, 2008
Where To Find Us Now...
If you would like to continue to follow our stories this is where you can find us:
Jimmy:
blog | www.HarmonyAndDissonance.com
artwork | www.jimmydanko.com
Annie:
blog | www.EsplendorYMiseria.com
Thanks for reading...
Jimmy & Annie~
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Day 44
Day 44, July 6th, 2008, Buenos Aires, Argentina
I have journeyed 44 years on this planet, 44 days on this journey alone. I have many miles to go before my time here is over, I think. As I look back at the major turning points along the journey; the day I left home, the day my son was born, the day I first knew I needed help with something, the day I learned the world was not about me, and more, I see them so very clearly. They are moments of deep connection with others, with the Universe, with the woman I want to be. This is one of those moments. I feel the sun shining on the values I hold closest to my heart:
Truth
Bravery
Learning
Growth
Love
I am scared sometimes. In some of these moments Jimmy gets to see me at my worst. He is kind and understanding, patient. He knows I am trying. I have some adjustments to make (you think?) and they will be fun if I let them be. If I will hold to those 5 things, the final one most of all, I will walk this journey with my head held high and my heart full of hope.
Tonight Jimmy, in his wisdom & joyful love, shared a glass of wine with me and danced me around the living room. The toast he asked me for came easily. “To the building blocks of a new life; Hope, Trust, Laughter & Love” One more dance around this strange living room in a strange country and then off to our quiet corners to process the day we both go.
My gift from Jimmy today is a journal to replace the one I mailed yesterday from Washington to my son Alex. The name of that journal was,
Satyagraha: Holding Firmly to the Truth - What I learned in 44 days on the road from San Diego to Buenos Aires & the 44 years before that
That journal was filled, page by page, with the things I think I know. It is my prayer that in it I have given my son a gift that will remind him who I am, where he comes from, the stuff he is made of, and more than any of that, how much I love him. That I will always be here with him, no matter how many miles separate us.
This new one will be filled with new information, new perspectives. It will be a place to process the new things I’m learning about the new place I’m living and the new people I am coming to know and love.
Jimmy and I both played with words today as we got used to saying things like we “live in Buenos Aires.” We walked the streets of the city, bought minutes for our phone, went to the grocery store (which we found closed) and found a couple of restaurants we’ll go back to, certainly. We made a plan for tomorrow, day 45. In 4 days I will turn 45. I know this year, as I knew last year on my birthday, will be an amazing year. I wonder if I will ever have another birthday when I do not think that....
Annie Ory Buenos Aires, Argentina
Love is all there is, nothing else is real....
I have journeyed 44 years on this planet, 44 days on this journey alone. I have many miles to go before my time here is over, I think. As I look back at the major turning points along the journey; the day I left home, the day my son was born, the day I first knew I needed help with something, the day I learned the world was not about me, and more, I see them so very clearly. They are moments of deep connection with others, with the Universe, with the woman I want to be. This is one of those moments. I feel the sun shining on the values I hold closest to my heart:
Truth
Bravery
Learning
Growth
Love
I am scared sometimes. In some of these moments Jimmy gets to see me at my worst. He is kind and understanding, patient. He knows I am trying. I have some adjustments to make (you think?) and they will be fun if I let them be. If I will hold to those 5 things, the final one most of all, I will walk this journey with my head held high and my heart full of hope.
Tonight Jimmy, in his wisdom & joyful love, shared a glass of wine with me and danced me around the living room. The toast he asked me for came easily. “To the building blocks of a new life; Hope, Trust, Laughter & Love” One more dance around this strange living room in a strange country and then off to our quiet corners to process the day we both go.
My gift from Jimmy today is a journal to replace the one I mailed yesterday from Washington to my son Alex. The name of that journal was,
Satyagraha: Holding Firmly to the Truth - What I learned in 44 days on the road from San Diego to Buenos Aires & the 44 years before that
That journal was filled, page by page, with the things I think I know. It is my prayer that in it I have given my son a gift that will remind him who I am, where he comes from, the stuff he is made of, and more than any of that, how much I love him. That I will always be here with him, no matter how many miles separate us.
This new one will be filled with new information, new perspectives. It will be a place to process the new things I’m learning about the new place I’m living and the new people I am coming to know and love.
Jimmy and I both played with words today as we got used to saying things like we “live in Buenos Aires.” We walked the streets of the city, bought minutes for our phone, went to the grocery store (which we found closed) and found a couple of restaurants we’ll go back to, certainly. We made a plan for tomorrow, day 45. In 4 days I will turn 45. I know this year, as I knew last year on my birthday, will be an amazing year. I wonder if I will ever have another birthday when I do not think that....
Annie Ory Buenos Aires, Argentina
Love is all there is, nothing else is real....
THE 44TH DAY...and the Rabbit Hole
Our red eye flight from DC touched down sometime around 9am this morning. The time difference from the East Coast is minimal (only 1 hour ahead of New York), however that was the easiest of the things that came with our arrival here. Over the course of the last 44 days Annie and I have gotten used to the change in scenery, the change of living quarters, the change of people. When it came down to it though, in a sense, we were always home, traveling within the country our roots have been burrowed in for so long. Where maybe we were dancing around the rabbit hole before, today I feel like we have truly fallen in.
What does it mean to wake up in a new country, a new world and simultaneously have the word 'vacation' completely absent from the definition of what we're doing. For me it is an amazingly beautiful and overwhelming idea to try to initially grasp. The pictures paints itself something like this: We step off the plane into Argentina, our new home, and the language is not our native tongue. We're in the Southern Hemisphere and suddenly we find ourselves in a winter climate, mild may it be, yet still the sun goes down now at 6pm rather than the late evening like we had been accustomed to. The setting of the sun brings a wind that holds an eye-opening bite and most likely any store or product we took comfort in the day before is now non-existent. All of our friends and family are thousands of miles away and we have no idea when we will see any of them again. Nearly every street is new and my mind holds no memory of which direction the sun will rise on us tomorrow. But it will rise. And that I take comfort in.
"Inhale. Exhale.," says the chalkboard at the restaurant we ate at this evening. We scribble it down in a notebook as if it was some great advice we must not forget, passed on not from a chalkboard hanging on a brick wall in a cafe, but rather from some wise sage whose old gray beard nearly touches the floor. Regardless of where it came from, we heed the advice along with a solid serving of patience and laughter, our two most powerful tools.
All of it makes things easier. As the day draws to an end for us here in this enormous city, I don't feel as small as I did earlier. And for a brief moment my humbleness flickers off, and I wonder if this place is big enough to hold me, and all that Annie and I want to create here together.
For as long as I can remember I've dreamt of the "rabbit hole", and wondered what it would be like to live there. I cannot begin to explain what it means that tomorrow, for the first time in my life, I will wake up there and have it be my new address.
Peace and love,
Danko in Wonderland
Currently reading:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death
by Jean-Dominique Bauby
What does it mean to wake up in a new country, a new world and simultaneously have the word 'vacation' completely absent from the definition of what we're doing. For me it is an amazingly beautiful and overwhelming idea to try to initially grasp. The pictures paints itself something like this: We step off the plane into Argentina, our new home, and the language is not our native tongue. We're in the Southern Hemisphere and suddenly we find ourselves in a winter climate, mild may it be, yet still the sun goes down now at 6pm rather than the late evening like we had been accustomed to. The setting of the sun brings a wind that holds an eye-opening bite and most likely any store or product we took comfort in the day before is now non-existent. All of our friends and family are thousands of miles away and we have no idea when we will see any of them again. Nearly every street is new and my mind holds no memory of which direction the sun will rise on us tomorrow. But it will rise. And that I take comfort in.
"Inhale. Exhale.," says the chalkboard at the restaurant we ate at this evening. We scribble it down in a notebook as if it was some great advice we must not forget, passed on not from a chalkboard hanging on a brick wall in a cafe, but rather from some wise sage whose old gray beard nearly touches the floor. Regardless of where it came from, we heed the advice along with a solid serving of patience and laughter, our two most powerful tools.
All of it makes things easier. As the day draws to an end for us here in this enormous city, I don't feel as small as I did earlier. And for a brief moment my humbleness flickers off, and I wonder if this place is big enough to hold me, and all that Annie and I want to create here together.
For as long as I can remember I've dreamt of the "rabbit hole", and wondered what it would be like to live there. I cannot begin to explain what it means that tomorrow, for the first time in my life, I will wake up there and have it be my new address.
Peace and love,
Danko in Wonderland
Currently reading:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death
by Jean-Dominique Bauby
Saturday, July 5, 2008
My Farewell to America~
Day 43 Washington DC, July 5th~
My mother was born on the 4th of July. When she was a little girl they had a rule in her family that no one was to tell Marie the fireworks were not for her. Last night as the fireworks lit up the sky over the capital of our nation I thought of that and for a moment it felt like they were for us. For Jimmy and I, as we leave for another country where the 4th of July is just another day.
When we went to the national art museum and the national portrait museum I thought, and said aloud, as I always do when I am in a Smithsonian National Museum, “This painting is mine. I own it.” Jimmy laughed but it’s true. All the art and historical artifacts in the national museums and archives are mine. They are yours too. We own them because we are citizens of this nation and they are national treasures. If you have never been to Washington DC this alone is reason enough to come. The feeling you have when you walk in to a National Museum and walk right past the front desk without paying a dime is very special. Even the lockers they make you put your big bags in cost a quarter to rent, but when you come back and put the key back in, it gives you your quarter back. It’s free because we own it already. We pay for it with our taxes, we pay for it when serve in the military, we pay for it when we vote. The painting we were looking at belongs to me because I am an American.
This morning Jimmy and I got up, ate breakfast and headed over to the mall to visit the Lincoln Memorial. He didn’t get to see all the things about DC that are interesting or moving but I insisted we not leave DC without his seeing this one thing. It is a gorgeous structure, commanding your attention. The sculpture of Abraham Lincoln is huge and imposing. He sits in silent meditation and I am always deeply moved by this image of the president I most respect in our nation’s history. The words carved on the walls of the memorial are powerful reminders of a president who was torn apart by the war he felt he had no choice other than to lead his nation into. Abraham Lincoln knew that war had to come. He knew that the only way to avert it was to deny the freedom and equality our nation stood for. He chose to step forward and hold true to those values. He worked hard not to judge and to simply walk a true path toward what he prayed daily would be a time of peace and healing for a nation made whole by the sacrifices of men who fought and died for those values.
As we leave America today I feel a deep sadness because we have strayed so far from the nation we once were. The president who sits in the Oval today is not a man who leads us in this war nor do I imagine he weeps for the young men who die on either side of it. Still, those values live in this nation. I know that is true because at 8:30 in the morning amidst the debris of yesterdays celebrations, around barricades, through the drizzling rain, hundreds of people walked the steps with Jimmy and I to the top of the memorial to gaze at the strong visage of the man who sacrificed all so that we could live in the warm sunshine of freedom and equality.
Think. Speak. Act. Vote.
My mother was born on the 4th of July. When she was a little girl they had a rule in her family that no one was to tell Marie the fireworks were not for her. Last night as the fireworks lit up the sky over the capital of our nation I thought of that and for a moment it felt like they were for us. For Jimmy and I, as we leave for another country where the 4th of July is just another day.
When we went to the national art museum and the national portrait museum I thought, and said aloud, as I always do when I am in a Smithsonian National Museum, “This painting is mine. I own it.” Jimmy laughed but it’s true. All the art and historical artifacts in the national museums and archives are mine. They are yours too. We own them because we are citizens of this nation and they are national treasures. If you have never been to Washington DC this alone is reason enough to come. The feeling you have when you walk in to a National Museum and walk right past the front desk without paying a dime is very special. Even the lockers they make you put your big bags in cost a quarter to rent, but when you come back and put the key back in, it gives you your quarter back. It’s free because we own it already. We pay for it with our taxes, we pay for it when serve in the military, we pay for it when we vote. The painting we were looking at belongs to me because I am an American.
This morning Jimmy and I got up, ate breakfast and headed over to the mall to visit the Lincoln Memorial. He didn’t get to see all the things about DC that are interesting or moving but I insisted we not leave DC without his seeing this one thing. It is a gorgeous structure, commanding your attention. The sculpture of Abraham Lincoln is huge and imposing. He sits in silent meditation and I am always deeply moved by this image of the president I most respect in our nation’s history. The words carved on the walls of the memorial are powerful reminders of a president who was torn apart by the war he felt he had no choice other than to lead his nation into. Abraham Lincoln knew that war had to come. He knew that the only way to avert it was to deny the freedom and equality our nation stood for. He chose to step forward and hold true to those values. He worked hard not to judge and to simply walk a true path toward what he prayed daily would be a time of peace and healing for a nation made whole by the sacrifices of men who fought and died for those values.
As we leave America today I feel a deep sadness because we have strayed so far from the nation we once were. The president who sits in the Oval today is not a man who leads us in this war nor do I imagine he weeps for the young men who die on either side of it. Still, those values live in this nation. I know that is true because at 8:30 in the morning amidst the debris of yesterdays celebrations, around barricades, through the drizzling rain, hundreds of people walked the steps with Jimmy and I to the top of the memorial to gaze at the strong visage of the man who sacrificed all so that we could live in the warm sunshine of freedom and equality.
Think. Speak. Act. Vote.
DAY 43 - Leaving on a Jet Plane
Well here we go. We leave the US today. Under a warm East Coast drizzle, we saw the fireworks bloom over the city last night. As they echoed off the quiet empty buildings and streets we stood by, I stopped and stared. Mesmerized as always by color. Afterwards we sat and ate in the rain at DC Cafe, a little hole in wall Lebanese/Syrian restaurant (amazing food). We took pause in waning wet moments of our last night here.
In a few short hours we will board a plane with a one way ticket that leaves this continent. That's a thought I haven't really been able to grasp yet. A quote by Mark Twain runs through my mind that gives me peace. "Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand." And so I leave with a smile.
Keep your eyes open for my emails, and for the "gorilla sticker". I tagged the thing every place we stopped over the course of the last 44 days. I'll keep you in the loop with how things are going for us in Buenos Aires. I've been dying to get back to painting again so as soon as I have some work and a website, I'll send them your way. Don't be a stranger.
Catch you on flip side. Take care. Take chances. Give more than you take, but don't give up.
Peace and Love,
Jimmy Danko
jimmydanko@gmail.com
Currently reading:
My plane ticket to see what gate were at.
Currently listening to:
What a Day by Greg Laswell
Current Daydream:
The next time I step foot in our country I will be walking on the soil of a nation that ceases to be at war.
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS...
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Day 41 - Washington DC - The end of the line...
JULY 3RD
After 15 states, 41 days and over 5000 miles on the road, we approach our final day in the US.
A silence floats across our hotel room for me,
and a wonder permeates my thoughts.
It's 1am.
I stood outside the White House today,
and amidst hundreds of portraits at the museum.
So much to take in.
With each answer comes 5 more questions.
All the words that come to my mind seem so small.
I sit here forever changed by a drive across the country.
I glance down at my forearm and the tattoo I got at the beginning of the trip:
SATYAGRAHA
It means "holding firmly to the truth."
We leave soon and that's what feels most right to hold in my mind.
The truth.
Tomorrow = fireworks. I can't wait....
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
The Last Stop On The Train~
July 2nd, Day 40, Philadelphia to Washington DC
Another drive brings us to our final stop before we leave the United States. Philadelphia was one of my favorite stops on our trip and it’s hard to even describe why. We didn’t do that much but my experience of the city was rich and warm. My friend Harvey lives there with his partner Kevin and their son Evan. After a long hot drive from Boston we had iced water on the cooling roof of their brownstone and watched Evan play way past his bedtime.
The next morning Jimmy and I walked around the city for a while. We stopped to see the Liberty Bell, which we now refer to as “The Broke Assed Bell That Probably Didn’t Even Ring On Any Special Days Because It Broke Coming Over From England & The Tower They Kept It In Was Falling Down On Independence Day”. We saw it nonetheless. We walked until we got tired and then rented bikes and rode around the city. We rode over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge into New Jersey. We ate Philly Cheesesteaks with fried onions and Cheese Whiz on them, and onion rings, for lunch. We had dinner at a great sushi place.
Yesterday we left our apartment in Olde City and while Jimmy rode around taking photographs of the amazing, well, old city, I rode over to the oldest Bikram yoga studio on the East Coast. It smells like the oldest studio. Really. It also has great teachers and I had a great yoga class. We had lunch and hung out and rested until it was time to go to dinner, at the same sushi place, with Harvey and his boys. We talked, walked down the street for ice cream and a martini later were asleep in our loft.
This morning we got up early and packed and on the way out of town stopped at the Philadelphia Art Museum. I saw some amazing things and enjoyed looking at art with my favorite artist. We hit the road in time to make DC for sushi (I’m noticing a trend here;)~ and are now settling in to our last hotel.
Tomorrow we’ll head out to explore the Capitol of the country we are leaving and likely have dinner with another friend. Maybe we’ll venture out for something besides sushi;)~ As we settle in to this final stop I find myself antsy. It is a nervous energy that leaves me tossing in bed and dreaming of days to come in another place. I have to remind myself to stay here in this moment. We have some adventures left to have here before the grand adventure of a new life in a new country begins.
Another drive brings us to our final stop before we leave the United States. Philadelphia was one of my favorite stops on our trip and it’s hard to even describe why. We didn’t do that much but my experience of the city was rich and warm. My friend Harvey lives there with his partner Kevin and their son Evan. After a long hot drive from Boston we had iced water on the cooling roof of their brownstone and watched Evan play way past his bedtime.
The next morning Jimmy and I walked around the city for a while. We stopped to see the Liberty Bell, which we now refer to as “The Broke Assed Bell That Probably Didn’t Even Ring On Any Special Days Because It Broke Coming Over From England & The Tower They Kept It In Was Falling Down On Independence Day”. We saw it nonetheless. We walked until we got tired and then rented bikes and rode around the city. We rode over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge into New Jersey. We ate Philly Cheesesteaks with fried onions and Cheese Whiz on them, and onion rings, for lunch. We had dinner at a great sushi place.
Yesterday we left our apartment in Olde City and while Jimmy rode around taking photographs of the amazing, well, old city, I rode over to the oldest Bikram yoga studio on the East Coast. It smells like the oldest studio. Really. It also has great teachers and I had a great yoga class. We had lunch and hung out and rested until it was time to go to dinner, at the same sushi place, with Harvey and his boys. We talked, walked down the street for ice cream and a martini later were asleep in our loft.
This morning we got up early and packed and on the way out of town stopped at the Philadelphia Art Museum. I saw some amazing things and enjoyed looking at art with my favorite artist. We hit the road in time to make DC for sushi (I’m noticing a trend here;)~ and are now settling in to our last hotel.
Tomorrow we’ll head out to explore the Capitol of the country we are leaving and likely have dinner with another friend. Maybe we’ll venture out for something besides sushi;)~ As we settle in to this final stop I find myself antsy. It is a nervous energy that leaves me tossing in bed and dreaming of days to come in another place. I have to remind myself to stay here in this moment. We have some adventures left to have here before the grand adventure of a new life in a new country begins.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Day 38 - Waking up in Philly
Across Massachusetts, over New York and the GW Bridge, through the rain of the New Jersey Turnpike and finally rolling into the one-way cobblestone streets of the Old City District of Philadelphia.
Despite how many times we done it, it's still a trip for me to wake up in one state and fall asleep in another. On the nights when I fall into a really deep sleep, I wake up not knowing where I am the next day. Any time I get relatively close to getting used to a place, it's time to repack the car, throw the keys in the ignition and drive till the sun starts to fall on the horizon.
This morning we ate breakfast at an old diner just around the corner from us called Snow White. From one city to the next the diners all seem to be the same. The same motherly waitresses. The same stern expressionless cooks. The same greasy eggs and bacon. The one thing that's always different from city to city though is what hangs on the walls. In Hollywood it was autographed photos of actors. In Vegas it was pictures of the Strip. New York, the skyline and Brooklyn Bridge. Here it's Washington crossing the Delaware and Betsy Ross sewing the American Flag.
It's day 38 and the end of this trip is nearing, or is it the beginning that nears. In either case we only have 6 days left on this roadtrip. I try to grasp what this trip has meant, but last night I realized that it may be years before I can fully understand its magnitude on my life, so I drift back into the moment. Ah yes, Philly.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Day 37 - Boston to Philadelphia
Boston was a nice rest for me. We arrived at my friend Lina’s home in Winchester and she enveloped us in the warm quietude of her world. She provided us with maps, directions, wine, a comfortable bed, good music, wholesome food, fresh cream for my coffee, fresh flowers in the kitchen, space to unwind, a place for my stuff, my first book on tape (which I’ll start listening to on the way to Buenos Aires in just a few days), a trip to the museum for Jimmy, a referral to a good hair-dresser for me, a bike to ride around the lake nearby, open spaces to spread out and clear our minds, great water pressure in the shower, a girls afternoon out, a dinner with friends, rich conversation, a view to her life, and more. Each time on our journey when we’ve stayed with friends and family, or even just eaten in their homes, it has been comforting, warm and joyful. They have opened their hearts and their homes and worked so hard to make us feel welcomed. This is a nod to the friends who’ve been our respite on our journey and the face of one more good friend who greeted us along the road to Buenos Aires.
Day 34 - Mark Twain + Gorilla = Empire
On our way to Boston we stopped at the Mark Twain House, the place where Samuel Clemens spent his most prolific years as a writer.
It was great to be there and take the tour, and despite Annie's initial hesitation to support what felt wrong to do...his house (along with every other place we've stopped on the trip) now bares the mighty Gorilla Sticker. Muhahahahahahahahaha!!!!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Day 34 - The Connecticut I Remember
We left Connecticut yesterday. It was my first time visiting the state, and a time I won't soon forget. Unlike New York, we didn't go to any crazy parties, or walk through any world renowned museums, but my time there I will hold with me just same.
----CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE---
I'll remember:
- drawing an "battle map" with Sophie (9) and Graham (8).
- making a new friend in a 90lb rotty named Hobbs.
- laughing as Graham stuffed his face with chicken fingers and fries.
- kayaking with Annie in a quiet harbor of Long Island Sound.
- meeting and touring the studio of the sculptor Robert Taplin.
- discovering how every restaurant in Milford, CT seemed to be named after me.
- Jeffrey's amazing carpentry and woodwork.
- Jeffrey sucking spilled wine off the table with a straw during dinner at the only restaurant in Milford not named after me.
- remembering how wonderful it is to go for a walk at dusk.
- hanging out with a 9 year old girl Sophie who was about to move with her parents from Montreal, Canada to Barbados.
- marveling at how she was only nine and already spoke two languages, was moving to another country, and seemed to be taking it all completely in stride (impressive).
- walking quietly through the past with Annie and her dear friends.
- being welcomed into the house of two strong, amazing and enlightening people, Jeffrey and Julia Carter.
Currently Listening To:
The rain against the patio doors.
Currently Reading:
A map of Winchester, Massachusetts
Current Daydream:
Planet of the Apes was based off of a true story.
----CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE---
I'll remember:
- drawing an "battle map" with Sophie (9) and Graham (8).
- making a new friend in a 90lb rotty named Hobbs.
- laughing as Graham stuffed his face with chicken fingers and fries.
- kayaking with Annie in a quiet harbor of Long Island Sound.
- meeting and touring the studio of the sculptor Robert Taplin.
- discovering how every restaurant in Milford, CT seemed to be named after me.
- Jeffrey's amazing carpentry and woodwork.
- Jeffrey sucking spilled wine off the table with a straw during dinner at the only restaurant in Milford not named after me.
- remembering how wonderful it is to go for a walk at dusk.
- hanging out with a 9 year old girl Sophie who was about to move with her parents from Montreal, Canada to Barbados.
- marveling at how she was only nine and already spoke two languages, was moving to another country, and seemed to be taking it all completely in stride (impressive).
- walking quietly through the past with Annie and her dear friends.
- being welcomed into the house of two strong, amazing and enlightening people, Jeffrey and Julia Carter.
Currently Listening To:
The rain against the patio doors.
Currently Reading:
A map of Winchester, Massachusetts
Current Daydream:
Planet of the Apes was based off of a true story.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
On The Road Again...
Day 33, Milford CT, June 25th
Another stop on the trip nears it’s necessary end. As we prepare for a final dinner here in Milford with Graham’s family I find myself feeling many things. I am joyful and satisfied to have made this time here with these lovely people to whom I will be forever connected in ways I could never really explain. I am sad to be leaving. I am excited for the next place and the next adventure. I am feeling more and more every day the urge to be in Buenos Aires and to begin building our new life there. I am filled with a sense of gratitude for this, and every, experience we’ve had on our journey.
I know that traveling with someone is a test in many people’s minds that will let you know if your relationship can survive. I have traveled a long way with Jimmy and we have had so many experiences, just in these 33 days, not to mention the ones we traversed before we sent our things off in a cargo container bound for South America. No list necessary, if you’ve been reading you’ve had a small taste of the things we’ve encountered on the road. We couldn’t begin to write them all, we’d have no time left to actually experience them. It occurs to me now that I never had any doubts about him, if I had, I wouldn’t have chosen to make this journey, and the one that comes after it, and after that, with him. Still, our way of being with one another has become more and more clearly right as we’ve shared this road. Our time here together in Milford with Graham’s family has shown me once again that I have chosen a partner I can share my life with completely. As we leave here tomorrow morning, say goodbye to Jeff and Julie and LG, I will do so with a feeling of warm connection in large part because of the way Jimmy has found a place with them that works for us all. I am grateful to the Universe, trusting that whatever comes next may not always be fun, but it wont ever be boring (and it will be more fun more of the time than I’ve ever had, ever!). The last few days have been fun and easy, I am starting to get used to that....
Another stop on the trip nears it’s necessary end. As we prepare for a final dinner here in Milford with Graham’s family I find myself feeling many things. I am joyful and satisfied to have made this time here with these lovely people to whom I will be forever connected in ways I could never really explain. I am sad to be leaving. I am excited for the next place and the next adventure. I am feeling more and more every day the urge to be in Buenos Aires and to begin building our new life there. I am filled with a sense of gratitude for this, and every, experience we’ve had on our journey.
I know that traveling with someone is a test in many people’s minds that will let you know if your relationship can survive. I have traveled a long way with Jimmy and we have had so many experiences, just in these 33 days, not to mention the ones we traversed before we sent our things off in a cargo container bound for South America. No list necessary, if you’ve been reading you’ve had a small taste of the things we’ve encountered on the road. We couldn’t begin to write them all, we’d have no time left to actually experience them. It occurs to me now that I never had any doubts about him, if I had, I wouldn’t have chosen to make this journey, and the one that comes after it, and after that, with him. Still, our way of being with one another has become more and more clearly right as we’ve shared this road. Our time here together in Milford with Graham’s family has shown me once again that I have chosen a partner I can share my life with completely. As we leave here tomorrow morning, say goodbye to Jeff and Julie and LG, I will do so with a feeling of warm connection in large part because of the way Jimmy has found a place with them that works for us all. I am grateful to the Universe, trusting that whatever comes next may not always be fun, but it wont ever be boring (and it will be more fun more of the time than I’ve ever had, ever!). The last few days have been fun and easy, I am starting to get used to that....
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
DAY 30 - The Last Day in NY
JOURNAL ENTRY
6-22-2008 5:45pm - Sitting inside Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery
We've been walking around hitting galleries all day. We started in Soho, made our way to the Bowery Art Museum and are now sitting in a bakery/coffee shop on the Lower East Side. I have an urge to shave a mohawk on my head and paint until the sun comes up. That might have something to do with the caffeine latte I just downed though. Rain drips from the awning as it pours outside the window I sit next to. The sun shines through though and somewhere out there there's a rainbow arcing over the city. NYC makes me long for Buenos Aires, another huge city. So alive. So much input. When we leave tomorrow, I know a part of me will be left behind, waiting for my return, waiting for my mind to dance in the rain here once again, just like San Francisco...
Ironically the t-shirt I wore this day says
"Hi, How Are You?"
Sidenote to Day 30:
When I woke up the morning of Day 30 I had no idea a close friend would cross my path. My friend Tony from San Diego just happened to be in NY visiting his sister, and of all places we met up in Times Square (my first time there). It was an awesome thing to have been on the road for over a month and randomly meet up with a familiar face whose history stems from thousands of miles away. When Annie snapped the picture I pumped my fist in the air. I felt like I had conquered something. I don't know exactly what but I know we won.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Little Soldiers for Little Graham....
Day 31 Milford Connecticut June 23 2008
Today was a day filled with emotion for me. Our tour of the friends and family and places we’ve wanted to visit has kept my mind so occupied that I hadn’t had time to think much about this leg of the trip. Today it dawned on me that I would be seeing my late husband’s family for the first time in 5 years. There was a time when we maintained regular contact but for many reasons, which are not important for this story, we allowed ourselves to drift apart. The relationships were always there, in the closet, dusty and waiting to be taken out again. This morning as Jimmy and I prepared to come to Milford to stay for several days with Julia, Jeffrey and Graham (sister, brother in law and nephew respectively to my late husband, whose name was also Graham) I was overwhelmed with emotion. I found myself crying and thinking of the many things each tear was for: the loss of the depth of the connection we once had; the memory of my deep grief for my husband, I still miss my friend very much; the tender wound I imagine I am opening by coming here; the task at hand and all the tenderness and love I would need to bring to it...
When he was young Graham (the elder) was passed a gift from his father of a vast collection of tiny antique toy soldiers, some more than 100 years old. Their weapons and horses and bugles and maps, even panoramas and boxes that some of the sets came with when they were purchased new many decades ago, before even Graham’s father was born. The collection was very special to Graham not in part because his father died when he was very young and it was a gift to him from someone whose presence in his life was dearly missed.
When Julia and Jeffrey had a baby boy 8 years ago and named him after his uncle, Graham began almost immediately to talk about passing the precious gift to his nephew. He knew he would never have children of his own and he dearly loved his (ever so slightly;)~ older sister and her husband, he was deeply honored to have a namesake, he wanted very much to be a good uncle. Graham died when his nephew was only 2 but in those 2 years he spent hours on line researching the soldiers, their value and how best to care for them and enjoy them. He carefully stored them and restored some of them in preparation for the day when Little Graham, as the family still calls him, would be old enough to receive the gift (his uncle liked to call him LG - he was military so jokingly enjoyed using the acronym).
When Graham died 6 years ago I knew that someday it would be my task to give the gift he so wanted to give himself. As I prepared for my move to Argentina and made choices about what to take I knew the time had come. Jeffrey and I had talked about the fact that Graham was old enough. He had begun to take an interest in the small box of soldiers his parents had taken home with them from the funeral.
Little Graham knows he had an uncle whose name he carries and even though I have not been here for so many years I was greeted with a huge hug and a joyful “Hi Aunt Annie!” upon my arrival. It was lovely and I knew that the evening would be easy and joyful with this little boy. We shared a lovely dinner with the family and they welcomed Jimmy warmly. As we caught up and got acquainted and re-acquainted we eased toward the moment when LG would wait no more. He wanted his gift. He’s 8 after all.
I took only 1 of the many boxes of soldiers up from the cellar (where they'd been safely stored since arriving by truck a few weeks ago) and explained to him where they came from and how much love his uncle had felt for him in the planning of the gift. I explained along with LG’s father how delicate they were and how they must be enjoyed with care. I told him the story of how his uncle had talked about the gift and how much it meant to pass the soldiers along and create a legacy.
Graham asked me questions as only a child will about his uncle not being here to give him his gift and I answered them as best I could. We touched and talked about the soldiers for a while and he created 2 small armies with them, equal numbers for a fair fight, and then it was time for ice cream and teeth brushed and bed time. I got a kiss from a guy named Graham for the 1st time in a long time and watched him march up the stairs to bed.
As I leave for Argentina I know I can do so with a heart slightly lighter for this very meaningful task being done. Graham, my Graham, will always be a part of my heart and there are things I will always do to honor him. However, with this I have done the last thing on the “To do in case I don’t come back” list he gave me when he went overseas all those years ago. The final thing on the list that has to do with someone other than me anyway. There is one I’ll be doing every day for the rest of my life and it was his final gift to me. On that list was a request that I “be happy, whatever that looks like for you” and I work on that one every day
.
Today was a day filled with emotion for me. Our tour of the friends and family and places we’ve wanted to visit has kept my mind so occupied that I hadn’t had time to think much about this leg of the trip. Today it dawned on me that I would be seeing my late husband’s family for the first time in 5 years. There was a time when we maintained regular contact but for many reasons, which are not important for this story, we allowed ourselves to drift apart. The relationships were always there, in the closet, dusty and waiting to be taken out again. This morning as Jimmy and I prepared to come to Milford to stay for several days with Julia, Jeffrey and Graham (sister, brother in law and nephew respectively to my late husband, whose name was also Graham) I was overwhelmed with emotion. I found myself crying and thinking of the many things each tear was for: the loss of the depth of the connection we once had; the memory of my deep grief for my husband, I still miss my friend very much; the tender wound I imagine I am opening by coming here; the task at hand and all the tenderness and love I would need to bring to it...
When he was young Graham (the elder) was passed a gift from his father of a vast collection of tiny antique toy soldiers, some more than 100 years old. Their weapons and horses and bugles and maps, even panoramas and boxes that some of the sets came with when they were purchased new many decades ago, before even Graham’s father was born. The collection was very special to Graham not in part because his father died when he was very young and it was a gift to him from someone whose presence in his life was dearly missed.
When Julia and Jeffrey had a baby boy 8 years ago and named him after his uncle, Graham began almost immediately to talk about passing the precious gift to his nephew. He knew he would never have children of his own and he dearly loved his (ever so slightly;)~ older sister and her husband, he was deeply honored to have a namesake, he wanted very much to be a good uncle. Graham died when his nephew was only 2 but in those 2 years he spent hours on line researching the soldiers, their value and how best to care for them and enjoy them. He carefully stored them and restored some of them in preparation for the day when Little Graham, as the family still calls him, would be old enough to receive the gift (his uncle liked to call him LG - he was military so jokingly enjoyed using the acronym).
When Graham died 6 years ago I knew that someday it would be my task to give the gift he so wanted to give himself. As I prepared for my move to Argentina and made choices about what to take I knew the time had come. Jeffrey and I had talked about the fact that Graham was old enough. He had begun to take an interest in the small box of soldiers his parents had taken home with them from the funeral.
Little Graham knows he had an uncle whose name he carries and even though I have not been here for so many years I was greeted with a huge hug and a joyful “Hi Aunt Annie!” upon my arrival. It was lovely and I knew that the evening would be easy and joyful with this little boy. We shared a lovely dinner with the family and they welcomed Jimmy warmly. As we caught up and got acquainted and re-acquainted we eased toward the moment when LG would wait no more. He wanted his gift. He’s 8 after all.
I took only 1 of the many boxes of soldiers up from the cellar (where they'd been safely stored since arriving by truck a few weeks ago) and explained to him where they came from and how much love his uncle had felt for him in the planning of the gift. I explained along with LG’s father how delicate they were and how they must be enjoyed with care. I told him the story of how his uncle had talked about the gift and how much it meant to pass the soldiers along and create a legacy.
Graham asked me questions as only a child will about his uncle not being here to give him his gift and I answered them as best I could. We touched and talked about the soldiers for a while and he created 2 small armies with them, equal numbers for a fair fight, and then it was time for ice cream and teeth brushed and bed time. I got a kiss from a guy named Graham for the 1st time in a long time and watched him march up the stairs to bed.
As I leave for Argentina I know I can do so with a heart slightly lighter for this very meaningful task being done. Graham, my Graham, will always be a part of my heart and there are things I will always do to honor him. However, with this I have done the last thing on the “To do in case I don’t come back” list he gave me when he went overseas all those years ago. The final thing on the list that has to do with someone other than me anyway. There is one I’ll be doing every day for the rest of my life and it was his final gift to me. On that list was a request that I “be happy, whatever that looks like for you” and I work on that one every day
.
The East Coast Leg of the Tour Begins...
Day 31 - We head for Connecticut
Being in New York City is always exciting but I've never had as much fun here as I did this time!
It feels like we did everything and then some.
Short on sleep and long on fun the last 3 days have been jam packed with experiences and it has been a blast to walk, eat, shop, play and do New York with my best friend.
Places we saw in 3 days and 4 nights in New York City:
Harlem
Soho
Noho
Brooklyn
Lower East Side
East Village
Midtown
Empire State Building
Museum of Modern Art
New Bowery Museum
More art galleries than I can recall
Restaurants unending
Libation night club
Times Square
Rockefeller Center
Central Park
Macy's New York
Stores Gallore
More taxis than, well, New York City
The Naked Cowboy's Wife
The East River
Pennsylvania Station
911 site
The Hudson River
More bridges than I care to list
White Party
Warsaw Club
Babeland
St. Patrick's Cathedral
An good friend of Jimmy's
Whew! I don't think I left anything out, I know I did, but I just can't recall anything else. We'll see you later Big Apple...
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Day 28 & 29 - Art, Warsaw & White Party
DAY 28
After grabbing a sweet soul food breakfast at M & G's near the Apollo Theater, Friday found us leaving our tiny room at the Harlem Y and parking our bags instead in Midtown. The afternoon would be spent taking in the work of the masters at MOMA. The night would find us at a music venue in Brooklyn called Warsaw. There we were fortunate enough to experience the unique music and artwork of Daniel Johnston (watch trailer).
DAY 29
Saturday night will stand as a night I will not soon forget. Somehow we found ourselves on the guest list for a White Party on the Lower East Side. I felt like a cross between a Miami druglord, a male nurse and the milk man. Interestingly, in New York, that is a recipe for an insane night.
Currently Reading:
graffiti on Lower East Side
Saturday, June 21, 2008
DAY 27 - Harlem Bunk Beds
We arrived in New York City Thursday night at about 9pm. It's my first time here. There's something special about the first time you roll into the city. New York. In many ways its the center of the world. The epicenter. That's an amazing and humbling thing to wrap your mind around. My attempt at doing that consisted of quietly staring out the window from the backseat of our cab, my eyes jumping from the lights, to the bridges, to the water, to the people. For some reason though it never felt too big.
The cabby dropped us off at the 135th Street Y in Harlem. This was where we would be spending our first night. The building was over 80 years old, and looked it. 1003 was our room number. The narrow cream colored halls of our floor, lit by flourescents seemed to reach our for you as we passed through them. All the room doors were a bright sky blue with the metal room numbers painted over so many times they'd be unreadable were it not for the penetrating white light.
When we finally got our beat up old dead bolt door open we discovered our room to be not much of a room. It had a dresser, 2 bunks beds and a little bit of room to walk in between them, if you turned sideways. So our first night in New York ended there. Annie took the top bunk. I took the bottom, and our luggage filled the empty space.
When the lights went out I laid on my back for a minute or two staring out our room's lone window. Shining back through the old wooden pane, was the moon nearly full. Besides wishing I was in a bed where my feet didn't hang off the end, I thought of one other thing. We had made to the Atlantic. On Day 27 it could be said we finally made it Coast to Coast.
Down to Just the Luggage~
19June2008 Thursday, Day 27, bound for New York City - posted a couple of days late;)~
As we walked down the concourse today on our way toward airport security I felt something new letting go. Jimmy’s parents drove us to the airport because they also bought our last remaining vehicle. During our stay in Milwaukee I received news from the property manager we hired that our condo in San Diego is now happily occupied by people we will never meet and who loved our color choices. Each month there will be a check for the balance between what they pay and what it costs to maintain. Funny, I don’t even know what they are paying for rent. I hear they are nice.
I said to Jimmy as we stood in the security line, “We only have luggage now. No cars, no jobs, no house, just luggage.” Jimmy answered that likely we’ll get used to it quickly. We seem to adjust pretty quickly to each new change.
We got a great head’s up from Jimmy’s sister Anne Marie. She lived in France for a time when she worked for EuroDisney. She said that it took everyone who moved there about 6 weeks to adjust. During that first 6 weeks emotions run high and clarity is less common than confusion, is how I interpreted what she wrote. No matter how well, or at all, you speak the language, it takes time to adjust and then it is done. I'm looking forward to everything, but mostly to being in Argentina and building our life there, our business, our community.
For now I find myself adjusting more and more to being a part of a new family. Jimmy has known my son and his girlfriend Jasmine for a while now and he met my mom and sister weeks ago. This week has been the week I was welcomed into his family, embraced by his friends, begun to find a place for myself there. Little enough time to even meet everyone, though we didn’t miss many, I will have time to deepen these relationships by mail, email and Skype.
For now we are on to the next stop. Our East Coast leg of the tour begins in earnest tomorrow in New York with a trip to MOMA and breakfast at the Harlem YMCA.
As we walked down the concourse today on our way toward airport security I felt something new letting go. Jimmy’s parents drove us to the airport because they also bought our last remaining vehicle. During our stay in Milwaukee I received news from the property manager we hired that our condo in San Diego is now happily occupied by people we will never meet and who loved our color choices. Each month there will be a check for the balance between what they pay and what it costs to maintain. Funny, I don’t even know what they are paying for rent. I hear they are nice.
I said to Jimmy as we stood in the security line, “We only have luggage now. No cars, no jobs, no house, just luggage.” Jimmy answered that likely we’ll get used to it quickly. We seem to adjust pretty quickly to each new change.
We got a great head’s up from Jimmy’s sister Anne Marie. She lived in France for a time when she worked for EuroDisney. She said that it took everyone who moved there about 6 weeks to adjust. During that first 6 weeks emotions run high and clarity is less common than confusion, is how I interpreted what she wrote. No matter how well, or at all, you speak the language, it takes time to adjust and then it is done. I'm looking forward to everything, but mostly to being in Argentina and building our life there, our business, our community.
For now I find myself adjusting more and more to being a part of a new family. Jimmy has known my son and his girlfriend Jasmine for a while now and he met my mom and sister weeks ago. This week has been the week I was welcomed into his family, embraced by his friends, begun to find a place for myself there. Little enough time to even meet everyone, though we didn’t miss many, I will have time to deepen these relationships by mail, email and Skype.
For now we are on to the next stop. Our East Coast leg of the tour begins in earnest tomorrow in New York with a trip to MOMA and breakfast at the Harlem YMCA.
Friday, June 20, 2008
DAY 27 - Milwaukee to NY & Zero Keys
JOURNAL ENTRY - 6-19-2008 - Day 27 --- On the plane to New York
As of today we no longer have a single key for anything. Our last key, the one for my car, was handed over to my parents along with the title this afternoon.
From my belt loop now hangs an empty carabiner. I leave it clipped there, a reminder to myself of a freedom that I have not known for a long time. We have no home and we have no vehicle - just a few suitcases, our laptops and my guitar.
It was somewhat eerie as we checked in at the airport today knowing these bags were all that materially represented us now. There's nowhere to go back to. No car sitting in a distant, treeless airport parking lot. Instead our path meanders only forward.
Wisconsin seemed a fitting place to leave my last key, the place where it all started. Here in a small stone house, on a wooded lot that in my memory was always surrounded by corn fields. I came into the world here with no keys and now, even if only for a while, I feel like I have returned to that simpler state of mind, falling in sense off "the grid".
Stereotypically I think of a hometown as a place to rest, but that was nowhere near the case for us with all the friends and family that shared their time with us. So we're headed to New York to relax. Or something like that. As Annie would say "You can rest when you are dead", and thus far, as a motto, that has served us well.
To all those we leave behind in Wisconsin I send you much love and thank you for all the support and well wishes you send us off with. It was good to be home.
Peace,
Jimmy
Currently Listening To:
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Currently Reading:
The 737 safety card in the seat pocket in front of me.
Current Daydream:
A world where robots and apes cohabitate.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Milwaukee, the land of the Dankos....
17June2008
Milwaukee has been filled with people for me. The miles of farms and forests gave way to a beautiful city full of people full of love for Jimmy and full of curiosity about me. Day after day, meal after meal, we are welcomed into their homes and hearts as we tell the story of our decision to move to Buenos Aires once again.
As I make it through each day I often don’t even have time to process what I’ve seen, who I’ve met, and then it’s morning and time to go again. My processor is full right now and I know that our flight to New York will be a thoughtful one for me. Our host, Dawn, one of Jimmy’s dearest friends, has made a quiet and relaxed space for us to settle at the end of each busy day. Jimmy makes time at the end of each day to process what has happened but I find that sleep takes precedence for me...
I find no time to write and no time for reflection and so I offer these photos as a window into the experience I have been having in the place and with the people who nurtured the man who walks with me...
This photo spread doesn't represent even half of the family and friends I've met. Don't pity me my visiting schedule too much though, Jimmy has made sure I don't miss the really important things about Milwaukee, cheese curds (round bits of cheese that squeak in your mouth when you bite them, sausages, cheeses of all kinds, ham sandwiches that are nothing like the ham sandwiches we ate in the South, German potato salad and Frozen custard from Leon's, a Milwaukee must have....
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