It is around 7pm on a school night. I can hear the kids outside up to some sort of mischief with neighborhood friends. I am seeking a bit of refuge up in my room on the third floor. The chaos of full on busy family life has its interesting spins and for me, sometimes, it is exhausting. I have to laugh as I find one of my primary roles here is the evening meal cook, a job I scarcely thought myself capable of holding. But it seems that I am doing okay. After spending 8 months in the busy but capable kitchens of the Seminar Haus in Germany and four months mostly a witness to the beautiful meal preparation of the kitchens of Les Battees in France, it seems, to some degree, I can cook. This is a revelation for me. Tonight as I was preparing dinner the oldest son, 7, said to me a bit sheepishly, “I have to say, I don’t know what recipes you’re using but… you sure are a good cook.” From the mouths of babes. No better compliment.
I am still finding my way a bit in this home…. As a “helpxer“, or living with folks in exchange for room and board, I find there is an ebb and flow to each new experience and my job is to learn to ride the wave. I have found you can try to set parameters, do you best to set some boundaries, but in the end the experience is its own creature. Here in this home in Philadelphia I am still exploring how to make the most of my trade in service to them in balance with my own independence. Some days I feel that “I’ve got it” and other days… I wonder. It’s a dance and every new experience has its own rhythm.
In this home, in the midst of some chaos of a family of good people with “too much” on their plate right now, it seems being here is also a place of healing. Living here I sometimes hear the cries and yells of children and parents doing the best they can in a stressful situation and I find my “inner child” shrieking and shriveling in response reminded of similar echos from my own childhood. As my travels and experience are ultimately a journey of healing, it has been useful for me to get present when this happens, get clear that what is happening in this home at this moment is not about me… that it is not my “fault” and that while I can contribute to the well-being of this home, it is not my responsibility to “fix” what is going on here. And so it continues…
Being here has also given me a profound new understanding of the complexities and challenges of being a parent…. up close and personal in a way I have never experienced before. At the age of 42 with no kids, I had no true idea of what it takes to be a parent and the limits that children can stretch you to… even in their innocence. I have a new perspective of my own parents and my own childhood. I am now thinking that parents are miracle workers to do it all… even the basics of clothing, feeding and educating a child. And if there are challenges in the environment, it is now easier for me to understand, while those “challenges” may not be an environment that is best for the child, that the parents are often doing the best they can.
And so I continue the syncopation of my gypsy ways currently in family life in Philadelphia. As someone who has spent a lot of my adulthood alone and independent, I appreciate the ways it is stretching and growing me. And that said, I also need and love my time tucked in my bedroom, or at the yoga studio, or strolling through the neighborhood.
Last weekend I had a wonderful adventure! A few weeks ago at a neighborhood festival I heard a Samba group play and the drums just made me feel alive! It turns out that they were from a local class taught just a few miles away from where I am staying. Last Sunday I took a leap and joined the class… and I LOVED it!
It was so amazing, everyone playing there was filled with such joy, beaming smiles on their faces as they played. As I became more familiar with my drum and my role, I let go of my concentrated effort and allowed my own beaming smile to join in with theirs… moving and grooving as we played collectively. It was fabulous! The teacher was a wonderful leader and I am welcomed back in the future while I am visiting in town. It is so great!
I also discovered a BEAUTIFUL park just a few miles from here. The park is called the Wissahickon and my hosts here guided me to a friendly and beautiful walk down a road in the park called Forbidden Road. It was … amazing. The fall leaves are in peak and the road runs along a gurgling river. It was truly one of most beautiful parks I have ever been too. The magesty of the surrounding trees just took me in and brought me home to that place where I feel nurtured.
The adventures continue, it’s fun, it’s beauty, complexity and simplicity… . Life with a family… its blessings and its challenges. I suppose its all just a part of learning to be…at home.
Photo just a little slice of Fall!
Gypsy Woman 
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