The fact that I am here is amazing. If the opportunity hadn’t arrived so quickly and left to my (and Man on the Raw’s) own devices… I probably would have decided against coming to Living Light Institute. I know, it’s insane. Here’s why.
My past journeys have been like this… Imagine these wonderful things you would love to do, make plans, create opportunities for them to happen and then don’t do them. Fun, right?
I just wouldn’t attempt or if I did I would panic mid-stream and loss confidence and quit and cancel the journey. Returning home to sulk and wonder why I am such a loser.
Justifications would continue to haunt me.
We have no money, I would have miss the children, I am abandoning my children, I have no idea what I want to do when I finally “grow” up, I’m not good enough…yada, yada, yada. Thousands of (un-rational) rationalization would have weighed me down. In my lifetime, thus far, millions have. Those and many more self-imposed obstacles have inundated my life.
But something inside of me said enough is enough (thank goodness), stop living in fear and pursue your freaking dreams! Take that winding road (figuratively) and move toward the dreams less traveled. And that’s what I am doing.
So this journey isn’t about whether or not I will become a certified raw chef. Don’t worry, I will totally discuss the chef stuff, it’s the fun stuff, right? But really the big question is whether I will stick around long enough to become a certified chef. Whether or not I will choke.
This is going to be fairly quick post because it is my second day of classes and I don’t have much time. I will discuss my experience with each class soon.
My children and myself arrived in California on Wednesday, as you might know because of the email disaster, I still am not ready to send out emails from the address. Because of FEAR. Ugh!
Anyway, our days in San Mateo (where Mom is) were spent shopping (Mom’s favorite sport) for the kids’ food, clothing, my school supplies (knife bag and covers, extra chef coats, etc.)
I only had a day to hang in San Mateo until we ventured the four-hour trip to Fort Bragg, home of the Living Light Institute.
Nothing spectacular happened on the open road in between San Francesca and a little town called Willits. It was fairly smooth sailing.
It all got interesting when we reached the mountain between Willits and Fort Bragg. Wait a minute, mountain?
When discussing Fort Bragg, noone ever brought up a mountain. Did I mention to my intense fear of heights and winding, narrow roads with steep drops? Yeah, I know, I know I live in Colorado (mountains in the west) but as I remind a select few, there is not a single mountain in Denver, so I am safe.
Very long story, short. My little Avery got sick in the car on this winding, uphill road. Did I mention my intense fear of vomit? But it was my baby and my mom wasn’t removing her knuckles from the steering wheel even though we were parked. Who could blame her? She did her time in Mommyville, her days of car-sick kids were over.
I, squeamishly, cleaned up Avery and prayed we would make it to Fort Bragg before another mishap. Thankfully, my prayers were answered.
In Fort Bragg, I checked into the Inn where I was staying, registered at the school (got my binder), found a Laundromat (washed Avery’s puke-soaked clothing) found a hotel for Mom and the kids to stay in (it was too late for them to travel back) shopped at Safeway (Mom’s brilliant idea to purchase a few groceries, thanks mommy!), said good-bye to my children (very hard, I hated this part), had orientation at the Inn (I am living with other students, which is nice), stayed up late reading over the next day’s schedule and finally tossed and turned in bed all night because I was too excited, nervous, happy, sad and fearful of what the winding road of Living Light Institute would bring.