It’s been a loooong 4 years

I really didn’t think we’d make it these past four years.

I really didn’t think we’d make it through the elections.

But we did!

The last four years have been incredibly challenging.

The last 8 months even more so.

But a hike today with D and O grounded me in the hope and love of family. The now-ness of a child’s life and of being a parent for said child who is living in the moment. It is that which has enabled me to keep on keeping on.

Playing alphabet games, ooh-ing and aah-ing about the views and the natural wonders of fallen leaves and hills and valleys, enjoying a snack at the mid-way point, and coming home to a simple lunch.

It’s time to set course for cleaning up, continuing to push for change, envisioning another world, and setting a foundation for O to be a critically thinking, compassionate contributor to the world.

The last four years were a terrible detour but if anything they’ve been a solid reminder that racism and white supremacy are alive and well in this country.

“Get up, stand up. Stand up for your rights.

Get up, stand up. Don’t give up the fight.”

Bob Marley

Trying to make a comeback

It’s been over a year since my last post. A lot’s happened in the past year:

• Trump really became president and is still in office.
• I’ve made it past the one year mark at my job (not without scrapes, bruises, and fleeting thoughts of leaving).
• I’ve made it through another year of 40-something motherhood. And there’s a lot that comes with that:
  • still aiming for a week of uninterrupted sleep
  • still learning something new everyday about being a parent
  • still amazed that I’m a mother at this age
  • still blown away by the fact that this little person has half my genes
• I got back to running and practicing yoga (thanks to a health incentive at work that pays me money for doing that!)
• I’ve started reading for pleasure again (this motherhood thing was really kicking my butt when it comes to doing things for myself).

I’m hoping to get back into writing about this journey into middle-age as a working mother of a toddler. I’ll be sharing things that I’m sure are already out there in the blogosphere, but it’s a way for me to reflect and have a record of my life in this period that my son can someday read.

I’m also hoping to process work I’m doing at my workplace on diversity, equity, and inclusion, pushing myself and others to create a more just and sustainable world. I’ve been especially thinking a lot recently about how we tackle white supremacy, white privilege, and racism with well-meaning white folks who are doing (or think they’re doing) the work.

So this is just me trying to hold myself accountable, wanting to start writing again and hoping to do this on a regular basis again.

History in the Making

It’s Election Day, 10:00pm Pacific Time, and the future of the country hangs in the balance.

How did we get here?

Did anyone realize how divided a country we are? Along race lines, gender lines, values, beliefs, ideas of democracy and what the United States of America stands for?

It’s been a long journey, seeing the two main parties arrive at the two candidates who are fighting for their lives and our futures. and I really never thought it would come to this.

What do the next four years hold for us as a country? No matter who wins, it’s clear that there is a large number of people who won’t be happy with the result. How do we move forward as the “UNITED” states, not the “DIVIDED” states?

This campaign has been eye opening for me in so many ways. I’ve been surprised at what people will believe. I’ve been surprised at how much racism and sexism still exists at very deep levels all over the country. I’ve been surprised at what people will ignore or dismiss to be able to justify their choices. I’ve been surprised at how people will make decisions that go against their own interests.

How do we move forward from here? What will the history books say about this election? What will tomorrow look like?

A Nice Vigorous Hike: Purisima Creek

Since moving to our new place, we’ve been trying to find some good places to hike. Hiking in the Peninsula in the Bay Area is very different from hiking in the East Bay. It’s hotter, more exposed, and browner, I find. I’m missing the East Bay hikes (Tilden Park, Wildcat Canyon, etc.). But we’re determined to find something!

So we found Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve. Bay Area Hiker is a great website for finding hikes in the Bay Area, and this suggested hike was quite nice. We found it easily, and though the parking lot was crowded on a late Saturday morning in the fall, we were able to park on the side of the road. This is listed as an easy hike, but we noted that the description says there is a 1200 foot decline and and then the loss is regained, so it ended up being more of a moderate hike, I’d say. We worked up quite a sweat because it was pretty warm for a fall day (in the 70s) and in the direct sun it was almost hot.

Some of the nice aspects of the trail was that it goes through forest and then hits open space. There are some really nice views of the bay at the beginning of the trail and then of the ocean later on. You can see Half Moon Bay at a point.

The hike description talks about an open space for a picnic, but it was just too hot that day to stop there, so we went down the trail about another quarter mile or so and found another clearing that was temporarily shaded. At least it was shaded for long enough for us to have a nice picnic lunch.

The North Ridge Trail ends; it’s not a loop. I think we’ll be back to this area for more hikes in the future.

On the Road Again

It’s that time of year again: vacation!

We’re taking a road trip through the Pacific Northwest, end goal – Vancouver. So far, it’s been quite nice, despite the varying weather – hot, cloudy, rainy, cool…

Our first day involved a lot of driving – about 660 miles straight from home in the Bay Area to Portland, OR. We got a decent start in the morning, didn’t hit too much traffic, and just rode I-5 all the way up for almost 12 hours, stopping only for restroom breaks, a picnic lunch, and gas.

The most noteworthy aspect of the drive was passing Lake Shasta which is almost half its normal volume because of the drought of the past four years. It was breathtaking to see how low the water level was – we could see the starkness of bare land below the tree line.

Then once we hit Oregon, we were engulfed in forest fire haze.

We listened to some podcasts to pass the time, and we were lucky to hit on some good ones:

• From 99% Invisible: The Sunshine Hotel – a fascinating story told by a Nathan Smith, manager of this men’s flop house. He’s an amazing and captivating storyteller with the voice of a man who’s lived a rough life and yet remains positive and hopeful even in the midst of squalor, vice, and despair in New York’s Bowery.
• From On Being with Krista Tippett: Simone Campbell – How to Be Spiritually Bold – an interview with Sister Campbell of Nuns on the Bus. As a “recovering” Catholic, I struggle to see the good in the Catholic Church with its rigid, sexist, and old-fashioned rhetoric and ideology. But listening to Sister Campbell on this interview was incredibly inspirational and moving. Here are just a few quotes from her interview:
  • “…for me, this journey is about continuing to walk willing towards the hope, the vision, the perspective, the opportunities that are given.”
  • “Just do one thing. That’s all we have to do. But the guilt of the — or the curse of the progressive, the liberal, the whatever is that we think we have to do it all. And then we get overwhelmed. And I get all those solicitations in the mail. And I can’t do everything. And so I don’t do anything. But that’s the mistake. Community is about just doing my part.”

We got to our first AirBnB in time for a late dinner. It was a cute place, an attic room in a craftsman home on the edge of the Alberta Arts District which is in northeast Portland. A nice neighborhood to stay in.

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