Author: The Wild Gems

Well, let me tell you about our neighbor Bill. He’s an awesome neighbor.

First let me share how I met this particular neighbor of ours. A couple of years ago I was driving home and pulled over to check the mail. I had my 3 daughters with me (the oldest ones were 3 I believe at the time) and our little dog, Calbie (bless his heart and soul).

As I was checking the mail Calbie jumped on the window and locked the car door from the inside. Which then locked me out with nothing but a mail key and a handful of junk mail.

I just stood there for a moment processing what had just happened. I was proud of myself for not really panicking. I was more like, “damn this sucks, my phones in there too…..”. I tried to encourage my girls to unbuckle their seatbelts to unlock the door but they couldn’t. Can you believe that! Ha!

All of a sudden this guy pulls up in a white truck with a trailer of landscaping supplies (thank goodness I wasn’t standing there long!) . He asked me what had happened, I explained, and come to find out in that small moment that he lives in the house behind ours.

Long story short another neighbor (John, whom I just pretty much met as well) pulls up close to the same time and immediately takes me to my house while Bill (the neighbor I just met too) stays and watches my kids so I can get the spare set of keys.

Essentially I got in the car with a stranger and let a stranger watch my helpless children. Trust good vibes.

Just in that small moment I saw how amazing my neighbors were and still are.

Bill particularly has become one of our good friends. Came to found out he’s a retired executive chef too, so we get to reap those rewards often. It’s awesome, he made these bacon wrapped dates this one time that I still think about. He also makes this amazing soup filled with shredded meat and lots of veggies that can cure any stress in your life!

He spoils our children with goodies weekly and our kids just love him. I joke that our dentist needs to send him a thank you card since he gives them so much sweets. We’ve come to know his wife and kids and on occasions have all got together for a game of cards or lunch. His wife and daughter have horses (they are barrel racers) and we often pay them a visit during evening feedings and our kids enjoy that. Especially one of our daughters whom they have let her ride a few times!

But our neighbor Bill is a real gem. He is always willing to lend a helping hand or make us laugh with joke just to cheer us up. He thinks of us and makes us feel special.

He’s a good neighbor. Thank you Bill.

It’s 9:47pm on a Wednesday night. What am I doing…..

Well, in this very moment, I’m in a yoga position. Reclining hero pose if we wanna be exact. I just broke free now, my knees were hurting.

The kids are sleeping and I just wasted some time on the internet reading about some conspiracy theories. Then I decided to do some bedtime stuff, and now I’m doing some moderate yoga.

Once I’m done writing/answering this I’m going to curl up in my bed and continue to read Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets. I’ve never read Harry Potter before but I’m channeling my fall spirit and my best friend has loved Harry Potter for as long as I have known her. So I guess I’m reading it for her too.

Anywho, this is what I do most evenings. And I love it. Sometimes I drink some bedtime tea too but I already brushed my teeth. Our neighbor gave us some pumpkin cookies that I would love to indulge in right now but I’ll wait to eat with my tea in the morning.

Good night beautiful humans.

I feel like, my answer is gratitude.

There’s just so much to be grateful for. And even in those hard times/moments there shines that silver lining. It’s that silver lining that gives you hope and encouragement.

Gratitude carrie’s me through the dark valleys. It gifts me with perseverance.

For that, I’m grateful.

There is so much I’m curious about. I mean, I’m curious about everything and nothing really makes sense to me.

Our very existence makes me curious. Like how is any of this even possible. The fact that we live on a planet surrounded by other planets and stars is just strange and insane to me. Even my daughters recognize how much of trip living is. One of my daughters always says, “is any of this even real, it feels like I’m in a dream”.

I’m curious about the details of life and everything’s purpose. It’s amazing… all the connections. I also wonder why certain things are certain things. An example would be why are the planets round and circular and not square or triangle. Why is fire orange and red and not pink and purple? My daughters taught me to wonder about things like that.

Our programming also keeps me curious. Some days I’m like who am I really without this programming and conditioning. Is everything just a coping mechanism? I don’t know, I think a ton. But I enjoy it in a way. I enjoy thinking about stuff I don’t know and getting lost in wonder. I am curious if we really will get all the answers one day.

People who have had near death experiences day say we will. And I do believe in God. That’s something I am curious about.

I’m glad we don’t have all the answers though in this life. This life experience wouldn’t be that great if we knew everything. There’s joy to be found in search and discovery.

Stay curious friends, always. We are all in this together.