Going with the flow: 2011

December 11? It was almost a struggle to just keep afloat with all the changes and how fast time's gone by this year. It has been a year of great changes for many. 

Early in the year Japan faced devastation with the earthquake and Tsunami.  Bin Laden and Gaddafi- killed. Natural disasters of all types- flood, disease, etcetera all throughout the world. The Euro's in trouble, the Arab Spring revolts continue, and now anti-Putin protests in Russia. Of course, there were many nice events too. 

The All Blacks finally won, quenching the thirst of fans. There's been some progress on the environmental side of things, and also some downsides. GMA is now under arrest. How things change! 

On a personal level, it was quite a year too. I married my fiance of 3 years in June and July (we had two weddings) after not seeing each other personally for well- almost 3 years? Big changes in both of our lives- and most of them, for the better. Not that I'm saying we haven't had any rough spots. We've had many. But we work through them and become better, stronger people and a couple for it. 

We had a monster invasion of hairy, extremely itchy, black caterpillars on our Talisay trees here a month and a half ago. By invasion I mean by the thousands. I didn't take photos because: 

1. I've always hated worms of all kinds except earth worms.If some people have roach shivers, I get worm/caterpillar shivers. 

2. I didn't want to have any photos of caterpillars or worms lying around. Even those make me queasy.

3. It was such a horrible sight to behold anyway! 

We have a lot of Talisay/Indian Almond/Umbrella trees all over our yard. They're beautiful, fast growing trees which grow well even on sand. Of all the years I've lived here, we never encountered a caterpillar problem until this year, so I was rather adamant about not cutting the trees as my husband wanted to. Anyhow, to make a long story short, we cleared all the shrubs and shrubs which were growing at the base of our Talisay trees as to make them less ideal for moths to breed and got some rocks instead. Here's are some of the spots we changed:

 We bought 7 sacks (full size) of assorted rocks for $16.00. Pretty good eh?

Other noteworthy events of the year:
We've found 4 olive ridley nests on our beach since November. Here's to hoping they all hatch so we have this again:

We're making some progress talking to the poachers here. The municipal councilors are even working on a municipal ordinance to protect the marine turtles.

That's it for now. Life's speeding past and so are my deadlines. Oh well. I'm just going with the flow.

All the best,
Sachi of Banyangrove

On relationships

I was talking to my good friend, Richard a few days ago about relationships. As a teenager I went through a lot of time wondering why we bothered with relationships. I mean, sooner or later - they end. Sooner or later they leave, move on or die. What was the point? I was thinking a sense of Buddhism was the answer- less relationships, less pain. It took me a while to realize some things (I can be really slow!).

The first thing is, real relationships or lasting relationships - be they one of friendship or more intimate - e.g. boyfriend/girlfriend or marriage- really can't be based on, "I love you IF". It's really just a, "I love you for who you are no matter what." And the best relationships go deeper than that, "I love you in your uniqueness and our relationship is based in the common knowledge that God is the center of this relationship." I don't mean that in a corny or preachy kind of way either. It's a real, straightforward thing.

Second thing is- as you get older, and the less you see certain people who you called "friends" before, you realize who your real friends are. After years of not seeing each other, even without communicating, you're still friends. It's like starting off just where you left off, as if no time had passed. And oh, what a beautiful feeling it is. :)

Third, which is especially true for marriage is- we're all in this world for a certain period of time. We don't know how long. We don't know when we're suddenly going to get pulled out. So we live our lives in a way where we do what we can and learn what we need to and help others and ourselves while developing our relationship with the Supreme Person. We are all totally unique and know all others to be equally unique with their own quirks, skills, and talents. We respect each other. So in whatever short or long time we're in this world, married or in a similar relationship, it's really quite nice to live knowing that, "Just as I'm living my life and walking my own path and developing my relationship with the Supreme Person, my spouse/partner is living his/her life in the same way." In other words, marriage or similar relationships really shouldn't be one of sucking each other dry and trying to see what and how that other person can satisfy my own desires, but one of being there for each other while knowing we're both on our way back to the Supreme Person. We both have faults and what not- but that's not what we focus on. It's not always easy to not see the faults of the other person, but relationships are just so much nicer when you're both not looking at each others faults but instead look at each other's good qualities. It's definitely not going to come instantly either, but all things take time and work. It's all a learning experience.

And yes- belated Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you Lord, for everything.