Days Eighteen through Twenty-One: En Vacance

I posted the last post, "Brazilian Hands", from an airplane.  That fact alone is kind of amazing, that one can have complete internet access from 30,000 feet.  Even so far removed from the earth's crust, I can still communicate, surf, fritter time away on these here interwebs.

Even more amazing is the fact that when I arrived at my destination, there was NO internet access.  I spent three days with my closest girl friends at a place called Sea Ranch in northern California, overlooking the Pacific coast.  Check out what the NYT has to say about it here.  It was a much-anticipated Girls Weekend for four friends of over 20 years who live very far away from one another.

I didn't realize we wouldn't have internet access.  Frankly, it never occurred to me.  And, in many ways, I am really glad it didn't.  If I had known, I would have spent time researching the nearest coffee shop with wifi, worrying about whether I could keep up my blog discipline.  Instead, I just shrugged my shoulders-- whatev-- and didn't even bother, concentrating instead on the faces and voices of the beloved women in my company.

I can't remember the last time I went three days without checking email, Facebook, or my favorite blogs.  I'm not quite a technology addict.  I think internet is a great tool but I am totally capable to going without it for a few hours.  But I like being connected because of exactly that: I feel connected to the people I love and the world that I love being a part of.   I genuinely feel that these tools have helped me stay in touch in meaningful (and frivolous) ways with people that are far from me.  I can keep them close in my mind and heart even when they are not close at hand.

It was nice to have some unanticipated unplugged time, though, time to concentrate of continuing to build community with women with whom I have shared many many many important life moments: relationships, schooling, weddings, births, deaths, loves found and lost.  All of those things happened face to face, with fleshly hands to hold and arms to hug, with real tears and copious laughter.  Interwebs are useful but they can't replicate the real thing.  Ever.  so it is nice to turn them off in order to pay attention to that real thing when it is happening in front of you.

For the next couple of days, I'll post about the Sea Ranch adventure and some of my shots from Grace Cathedral, San Francisco.  Stay tuned...