SARAH WOLF | WRITER, READER, GAMER
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My Inner Worlds
Machu Picchu has been on my travel to-do list for many years. Last August I knew I needed to go by June, 2019. Matt and I then began planning a ten-day trip, from which we returned yesterday.
This first of three posts chronicles the days we spent in Cusco acclimating to the high elevation. Matt’s reaction to being almost 12,000 feet above sea level is to not breathe while sleeping. Thus he stayed awake for three nights. I had a headache the first day and experienced heart palpitations during physical exertion, like slowly walking up the hotel stairs. Unlike Matt's symptoms, mine lasted the entire trip. We spent five nights at the Palacio del Inka next to the Temple of the Sun. Our room truly was palatial, and the staff were amazing. A street artist named Valentine seemed to live outside our hotel and showed us his wares every time we left sanctuary. Matt wound up buying several canvases to go in his new office, and honestly, they're pretty good.
On our third day in Cusco, we traveled next door to Coricancha—the Temple of the Sun. We then toured each of the four sacred sites in Cusco. My favorite was Saqsaywaman. I love stonework and fondly remembered my eighth-grade fantasy of growing up to be an archaeologist.
The next post in this three-part series will share our amazing adventure at Machu Picchu.
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I’m writing this while waiting to board my flight to meet two of my sisters for a “Sister Cruise.” I may not notice errors in the post due to my small phone screen, but it’s healthy to try new things. Therefore, my first mobile post! Cheryl, Lisa, and I have planned this trip for almost one year. We’ve all been super stressed lately and need fruity drinks, sunshine, and blue waters to soothe our body, mind, and spirit. Here’s a shot of the first thing I did for myself, something I’ve not done for about 20 years—a professional boot shine. Check out this cute little passenger! She whined from the strange airport experience.
As a follow-up to last Saturday's post about my grandfather and the buds forming on our cherry tree (the earliest I've seen them in seven years), here's a picture from this morning. They survived the current cold snap, which I didn't expect.
May your day be sunny and bright.
One-hundred and ten years ago today, my maternal grandfather came into this world as a thirteen-pound bundle of baby boy. This morning I noticed our cherry tree starting to bud, the earliest I’ve seen in the past seven years of living in this house. I love the cherry tree that grows outside the window of our meditation space. I had a harder time learning to love my grandpa.
A complicated man, my grandfather was a fervent televangelist to whom I felt no connection. He and my grandmother bickered incessantly. As a highly loyal child who fiercely loved her grandma, I felt any slight against her as a personal affront. So Grandpa didn’t earn my love or loyalty, shaping the relationship I would have with him for the rest of his life…and beyond it. He passed from his human form in 1994.
Several years ago a car drove up to my house and stopped at the mailbox. I walked outside and up to the driver’s window to see what the person inside wanted. Behind the wheel sat Grandpa Culp, smiling at me and glowing like an angel. I felt slapped, stunned. How dare he come to my home, my energetic space, showing himself to me as though I didn’t resent his presence. Yes, that was my reaction. Not “wait a minute. You’re dead and can’t drive.” I woke from this dream, this vision (I’m not sure I was really asleep), feeling my world had to shift.
Grandpa became a companion and teacher after this dream-vision. I saw the true angelic beauty within him, no longer masked by the human life he led. He worked with me as I forgave the aspects within my own life that corresponded to his (hoarding is one of those genetic traits that I have brutally and intentionally culled from my life). While it’s now rare for Grandpa to visit me, he still comes around a couple times a year, usually in the presence of one of my other grandparents. Yes, I can communicate with the non-corporeal. After all my grandparents passed from this life and into their truer forms, I learned that the one I believed “the least among us” was a brilliant, incredibly beautiful light that shines brighter than the rest. Thank you for the gift of budding cherry blossoms, my special teacher and friend. Happy birthday wherever you are, Grandpa. |
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