Why Are We Here Anyway?

Thursday, August 14
I thought I'd be clever and write regularly and perhaps start each post with a Rumi quote.  That's not been my morning or evening ritual and so no posts, no notes, no reflections, no nada.  Just figuring out how to blog is a challenge.  Perhaps in time, I'll figure out how to upload photos or change the color of the type...guess I figured that out...                       

Here are two reasons we are in Chile...Aayan and Amaya...sweet, lovely nietos.  We wanted to be more a part of their lives...helping to make those grandparent memories that I hold so fondly in my own mind.  Grandma Louise and Grandpa Moe, taking me to Radio City during the Christmas holiday, watching the skaters, getting to the NBC window early so we could see Dave Garroway and J. P Muggs of the Today Show.  We'd travel down there in Grandpa's own yellow checker cab.  He always said we were his "precious cargo." He was very proud of his cab and it was always impeccable inside.  Grandma never sat in front.  She hated to drive in cars, worse for her was flying in a plane, so if I ever traveled with them, we went by train.  I loved traveling on the trains with them.  The porters always made me a bed between the seats on soft pillows.  The wool blankets were soft and sweet smelling.  Grandma and Grandpa sat on the seats...their legs offered me protection, while the clicking of the wheels and the distant sound of the whistle blowing lulled me to sleep.  Dinners in the dining car were always a treat.  I felt like a special guest, like a princess.  As I think about it now, I'm not even sure where we traveled from, but imagine that I traveled with them from Cincinnati OH, where my parents moved when I was just turning 9 years old, to their home back in NYC.  Maybe even my sister was with us, but I have no memory of her there...just me on the pillows...the train, the whirring of the wheels and wonderful meals in the dining car.  I hated being in Cinti.  I always wanted to go back home to NY.  The memories of that time are hazy and dim, but the sensation of being with my grandparents remains strong and sweet.  I am hoping that Aayan and Amaya will have sweet memories of us as well and carry that into their adult lives.


Our schedule now is to pick them up at school on Mondays and Wednesdays.   They attend a private school in the foothills of the Andes.  it's a beautiful school campus.  There are multiple buildings, most are hexagonal two story structures, while the cafeteria,  gym, art studio, and some of the other classroom groups are rectangular.  All the buildings are adobe.  Tibetan prayer flags greet everyone at the entrance, along the entrance trail to classrooms, 3 beautiful prayer wheels sit opposite the small office building.  Every classroom has meditation cushions, singing bowl, and more prayer flags.  The philosophy is a combination of Montessori, Waldorf and Buddhist principles.

This is just a taste of the campus...they have a community garden, composting, recycling, and their sensibility about the world and peace and being conscious of the planet and what we do on the planet is evident everywhere.  I'm happy they are in this school and they seem to thrive there. I'll take more photos at another time,but how many schools do you know that offer meditation in each classroom and have a community garden, and beautiful adobe stone buildings with mosaic pathways...not too many I would imagine?