Living like a camel

In my morning train reading this week, I uncovered the analogy of living like a camel or living like a horse. A camel needs very little food and water, it chews and re-chews for a long time. A horse will eat and eat, it is never satisfied and is always looking for more. (Disclaimer: a) I am paraphrasing and b) I'm not an animal expert so I'm taking it at face value that this is generally true of camels and horses.) The idea is that many of us are horses in life, always looking for the next thrill in life, never really satisfied in the moment. We need more and more and more just to feel alive. Camels, on the other hand, take what they are given and get the most they possibly can out of it, appreciate it, use it, and re-use it when the going gets tough. So I'm choosing to try to be more of a camel in life, savoring the moment.

Case and point, there has been a fresh layer of snow (on the already exisiting several inches) every morning this week. At first I found myself doing the typical grumblings in my head, wishing the snow away and fiercely hoping for spring to show up soon. But as I was having my train potato time, I recognized that it really was the beautiful kind of snow cover that makes the world a brighter place because every single branch and rooftop white. I thought, why shouldn't I look at this snowfall as magical and breathtaking as the first snowfall of the year? The snow doesn't know that I'm really waiting for spring, so I've been looking at it through new eyes all week, appreciating that which currently is, because that's what I've been given. It's kind of like taking yourself outside of time for a moment, so you're not stressing about that which has been or will be, and training yourself to just be with what you've got (not being biased because it's March and the calendar says it should be spring, but just being....), if that makes sense..... It's a bit of work inside your mind to get to that point, but it's nice.

In other news, I'm also remembering what it means to be a decent human being again. That might sound sad or even horrible, but Riga took it out of me. I've actually been embarrassed by my own non-decent human being-ness at moments (but the good news is, it's not too late and I can still fix it)! For example, I found myself elbowing and pushing to get in the line to get off the train in Sigulda and when another passenger actually took a step back and let me into the line with a smile, I'm sure I turned beet red as I thought "oh, yeah, that's the polite and decent way to exit a train".

I can pinpoint the day when I started having to be rude and pushy on public transport. KB and I had gone to the beach on one of those perfect summer days together with our friend PP. When we were preparing to come home, the first train was absolutely packed full - people were literally pushing themselves in with body parts still hanging out, sucking tummies in when the doors closed, just to get on that train. PP (who'd been living in LV a while longer than us) pushed himself into that train, while we held back and politely said, we'll wait for the next train. I remember him waving goodbye to use before the door closed - if he didn't have a smile and a beer bottle in his hand, I'm sorry to say, it would've looked like he was being deported. Two more trains came and went, each time it was the same story, until finally KB and I realized, if we wanted to make it home that night, we were going to have to shove our way in too. It was the worst experience, where mothers were actually crying out that their children were squashed and couldn't breathe, and that's where I started learning that being polite wasn't always going to help you survive here. So I'm really relieved and glad to be in a place that is letting me get back some of that decent human being-ness.

What else? The second graders are great, as always. What other job do you constantly get to hear funny and innocent quotes from people who are growing so quickly and working figuring out the world? For example, "I'm sooo glad it's lunch time! I'm hungry as a .... as a .... raccoon!"

Finally, there is always a good story to tell about Mims the Wondercat. She still continues to love spicy food and was the entertainment point of our guests last night as she devoured spicy Mexican chicken (prepared by a friend in true Mexican style and just on the borderline for me of being able to eat it)! And she's always been fascinated with closets (figuring out how to break into them and pull out all kinds of treasures), so living in the new house is no exception and one of her first maneuvers was to figure out how to open these closet doors. The newest development is that she has now figured out how to open a closet, close the door behind herself and just make a nest for herself in our clothes. She scared the life our of me today when I opened the closet and started digging for a sweatshirt and all of a sudden her head popped up. Who knew you might have to baby-proof a closets and drawers for a cat?