On the road again ... home!

Having lived the nomadic life of a community journalist and subsequently living in 18 states, my soul yearns for my hometown, Pueblo, Colorado. I want to be with my 94-year-old Grandma Ruth and my parents as they age. I want to buy a home and put down roots.

A week after I graduated high school, I moved to California, then to New York City, et al. I haven’t lived in Pueblo since I was 20-years-old when I joined the U.S. Navy. My youngest sister was 10.

Needless to say, life without me in Pueblo has thrived in the last 30 years. People live their lives with me popping in over the years to quickly unintentionally disrupt their flow during my visits.

It has caused irreversible damage in my family. It seems the mention of me coming back is already causing some fear.  I don’t expect any changes there. I just want to enjoy the rest of my parents’ lives.

My friends, however, are thrilled I am coming home for good! With us, there are no expectations or judgments.

There are so many things I have missed and I am excited to learn how my town has grown and prospered over the years.  Of course, I have the moving jitters and having to sell everything possible, but that’s part of my move! I am an expert mover.

After three years of living about as far from my home state as possible I am finally leaving Boston! The first year I was here it snowed 4 ft.; the second year, 6 ft.; and the third year - 10 ft. I mean it is mid-July and the last 75-foot-high snow bank just melted a week or so ago!  I can’t last another winter.

I love Colorado snow. It is soft and fluffy. In New England, snow is heavy and wet! And the cold actually is so biting; it tears up your face. The wind is continuous. It just never stops blowing.

And don’t get me started on the humidity on the East Coast! It was 83 degrees at 5 a.m. today; and as I write this after 9 p.m., it is still 93 degrees outside. It is literally so hot you really cannot enjoy being outside. In Colorado, snow melts quickly, and it always cools down at night. Man, I miss that!

And Boston is a HUGE EXPENSIVE city smashed into a very small area. There are just too many people and too much traffic.  Parking is very expensive and no validation.

Bostonians don’t interact much – unless it is a sporting event, and then they are all united. But they are fair-weather friends. If a team is losing they want nothing to do with it. That is weird to me!

Also, it is strange being in an area where English is definitely the minority language. I am also positive I actually catch about two-thirds of a conversation as Bostonian is a strange language, believe me. I mean, a water cooler is a bubbler, a donut is a Dunkie, and there are no r's in the pronunciation.

There is no open space. And no mountains! I am a mountain girl and can't wait to take San Isabel-Beulah drive.

I will miss the Atlantic Ocean and the seafood, but I can live with that! Road trip and home by September 1! Yay!

Time for serious balance

My Body, Mind, and Spirit have all been lacking since April to the point I could not stop the reversible unbalanced space, a feeling I have been in for far too long.

When you are concentrating on one area of your life without tending to the others, all connections suffer.

With pain invading nearly every moment of my life, other areas, my body, mind and spirituality lacks serious balance.

Please forgive me for not writing earlier – a poor sign for a new blogger! Now I know, really know pain, and I’ve survived so far- but it’s come at a price.

After walking 30K steps in two days – it just felt good walking after struggling so long! There is still pain but is slowly NOT effecting my entire life.

It will take some time – baby steps- I am still healing in all areas.

First and foremost, take care of me and that starts with a pause from the computer – too much sadness, negativity, and time! I am wasting very serious time.

I am exercising more, using my mind to bring a better content to this blog, and started a new free 21-day meditation on Grace by Oprah and Deepok Chopra.

My new mantra – even in Boston traffic is: Compassion. Kindness. Harmony. Love.

Canada closed to resisters

A story on Yahoo News caught my attention as it said war resisters, welcomed during the Vietnam era, are treated differently as no U.S. troop member from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars seeking legal residency in Canada, either as a refugee or on humanitarian grounds, has been successful.

Army officials said more than 20,000 soldiers have deserted since 2006 – since the first President Bush’s war. Some deserters face court-martial but the majority are discharged on less-than-honorable terms.

Canadian government guidance issued to immigration officers in 2010 requires them to consult supervisors on U.S. military cases and spells out desertion is a crime that may render those who've left the military as criminally inadmissible to Canada.

“Before the Civil War, Canada was at the top of the Underground Railroad, said Author Margaret Atwood. “If you made it into Canada, you were safe unless someone came and hauled you back. This was also true during the Vietnam War for draft resisters.”

War Resisters International shares the following concerns about the practices of the all-voluntary force in America. I know just about everyone I served with joined because, like me, I didn’t have the money or grades for college

The procedure for recognizing conscientious objectors of the present all-volunteer military is solely in the hands of the military, and therefore is not independent and impartial, as required by Commission on Human Rights resolution 1998/77;

In practice, conscientious objectors who are denied the right to conscientious objection and who refuse orders to deploy are sentenced to prison;

The denial of educational benefits and other forms of discrimination against those who fail to register for a potential draft under the Military Selective Service Act is a violation of the right the education, and also amounts to punishment without trial;

The military has access to private data of high school students for recruitment purposes, which is a violation of the right to privacy;

Counter-recruitment activists face intimidation and arrest from police, military, and university authorities, which amounts to a violation of the right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and;

The military's "stop loss" orders to extend the length of military employment contracts without the consent of the soldier are a violation of the Forced Labor Convention.

Because our Armed Forces are voluntary, a lot of the rules for protection under the Uniform Code of Military Justice just don’t apply.  Another Catch-22 for new recruits!  Someone should tell them.