Plain oatmeal and unsweetened soy milk for breakfast. With some roasted, salted almonds. The kind of experience that makes me feel like a Spartan warrior, girding my loins for a highly likely death. But accompanied by excellent Indonesian blend dark roast from the ambitiously named Adventure Coffee Company.
The morning has been about packing. Three pairs of boxers. Two pairs of hiking socks. 2 pairs of athletic socks. Pills. Depression requires buproprion. A tendency toward prostatitis requires saw palmetto. The predictable travel headache or the hip pain of sleeping on a camp bed requires ibuprofen. Insomnia as a possibility at all times requires herbal sleep aid. My ancestors who migrated out of Africa for whatever reason, probably engaging in some moonlit and heartbreaking shenanigans with a few Neandertals along the way, bestowed on me fair skin prone to burns and cancer, which requires sunscreen (even though studies have shown sunscreen is to no avail against cancer— cancer that is everywhere lurking, always within the nucleus of each cell it seems, the hypochondriac's ready answer for all ills).
Hotels for two nights and camping for one requires a lot of mixed packing. The clothes of civilization and the trail. Suitcase, day pack, field supplies, tent, sleeping bag, pad, luxury sheet and comforter, Jet Boil, cameras, water, snacks. The single night camping is the usual trial run for the Baja trip.
It's November 23rd. In 22 days I'll be in the presence of my beloved. In 8 days I will be in Baja California, from December 2 to December 13. Tonight, I'll sleep in Amado on the way south, and tomorrow night, in Guaymas, and Saturday night, I do not know. Sunday, I'll return to my monk's cell and Monday I'll push myself into the weird week between Thanksgiving and the end of the semester. Busy limbo.
We humans are complex, in the sense of having more than one moving part, especially around language. We can easily say one thing and yet behave in a completely different manner. Giving thanks, for example.
I work to stay focused on giving thanks through action, not words.
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