Elation

I will try to put it into words, but there is no way to describe to you the sense of bliss existing right now. Perhaps this is an "crest" of the wave, but it is being ridden as if it were a "trough" or a "middle-frequency" or anything. It just seems... well... right. For lack of a better word. The mosquito bites don't even faze me because they are a part of it all.

The first day back was hot. A reminder that it is August in western Japan. And then... it all cooled down. The vibe around the office is mellow and enjoyable. The vibe around the jutaku is nice too, with the neighbors leaning on and supporting one another to get ready for a strong year. The vibe around the city is that summer is going to end sooner than later, though I expect an intense heat to come sometime soon and last for a little while. The vibe in my life is that things are in place.

Vacations are getting planned efficiently and with the maximization of available time; the weekly routine is taking the form of the wonderful one that sustained me last year; the garden adventure is beginning and taking form- with measurements, a budget and crops to plant- we begin the labor this weekend (to add to the three small rows of basil and soybeans that were planted in July!); it's like the whole structure is nearly complete and then it will be autopilot for a year. The variables being the foods eaten during the week, the weather, the school stuff (which schools I will visit, the kids and the classes), and absorbing the inevitable in whatever form it takes.

It upsets me that I won't have room for flexibility in my structure. It freaks me out a bit too that I can already see how each day and week may look similar. It's weird to know basically when and where my vacations for the next year will be spent.

But I made it. It has all taken the form that matches the ideal. I can do all of the activities that I enjoy. And I can enjoy the ups and downs associated with each activity.

Granted there is no way to predict the future... it would be silly to think that any of my plans can control what will actually occur. But the planning phase is now in the past and I can't change the past because it has passed. The future of the logistics has, conversely, been taken out of the equation also. It's a bizarre feeling to say it, but I have backed myself right into the present and I will have to be awake and alive in each living moment, in the absolute now, to make any relevant sense of any of this. Any of it. "IT!" (courtesy of Mr. Alan Watts).

I can finally work on practicing what I preach on every annoying email that I send. I'm going with it:

"Be where you are when you are there."

I am here now, so I had better be here. Not that there is a choice anyways!