Its the weekend for this working Diva and time for me to relax in the gardens, drink cool beverages and dream big.

Every April when Jim goes to Georgia for the Masters golf tournament, there is always some moment when I have a pity party for myself I too wish I was somewhere warm.

It’s not that I really want to be at a golf tournament, but after eight months of winter, the thought of being outside without wearing fourteen layers of reconstituted plastic winter wear is appealing. So…… a couple days into his trip, I usually splurge on something to make myself feel better. We could call it Visa Card spending parity or we could call it what it is……IMPULSE BUYING. Perhaps Jim calls it his May Visa Card bill surprise.

This year my impulse thoughtful purchase was garden furniture. On April 6th I found a white cedar garden furniture company online, a company we will call SNAFU Inc. SNAFU Inc was having an online sale that seemed too good to be true was too good to be true. Apparently I could buy three garden benches, six garden chairs, and two garden tables for the price of one garden bench from Smith & Hawkin.

And so I ordered three garden benches, six garden chairs and two garden tables with thoughts of how special it would be to have places to sit down in the gardens, as opposed to what is available for sitting right now which is a) several rotten garden benches set out in fields where people can look at them but not be in danger of actually sitting on them and b) two garden benches from Smith & Hawken bought in 1993 that have migrated to Ben’s new porch.

At first, I waited patiently for my garden furniture. There were so many lovely thoughts of nestling a bench here or a chair there in this or that garden that I almost didn’t notice that it had been eight weeks and still no delivery. But then it occurred to me that eight weeks was a long time to wait. After all, the snow was actually gone and we could really use the furniture….. and so I made my second contact with SNAFU Inc. I emailed to ask when I might expect my benches. For a few weeks I stuck to sending pleasant inquiries by email even though no one answered my polite missives.

Ben was having a big housewarming at his house called Sheestock in the end of June- He expected a hundred people, and I imagined the benches coming just in time to seat a few of his crowd. It was my new SNAFU Inc fantasy.

At Sheestock, they sat on the grass or danced on the front porch with the two Smith & Hawken benches pushed out of the way- which is perhaps the way one should expect things to be at a party called Sheestock.

Next I began a polite phone assault. To begin with, I just wanted to know that my order would arrive someday, but when I began to make contact with the folks at SNAFU Inc, I grew more concerned. Every person on the phone had a different story about why my order had not been shipped. Their phone menu was still pushing the sales, but everyone I talked to mentioned new problems as to why my order was not ready. Basically there seemed to be no white cedar in the continental US.

As we entered the month of July, my order was 12 weeks out. The woman I spoke with on the phone several times told me each time I called that my order was shipping that day. During our last conversation she had a choking fit and could not talk. I felt very sorry for her having to handle the customer wrath that I knew must be her daily bread.

My daily bread was the laughter of everyone here. Our office and home was filled with jokes about when the SNAFU order was coming. Each knock on the door, each truck up the hill and someone would call out that it was the SNAFU benches.

Simple pleasures for simple people….. and the family and staff were enjoying my impulse purchase, perhaps more than if the benches had actually materialized.

The third week in July and this is where the story takes a sad sexist turn. Having logged a good dozen calls to SNAFU, I was ready to wash my hands of the whole thing and I asked Jim to try his luck.

And so, Jim called the people at SNAFU Inc to ask where the benches were. He wasn’t cross or demanding. He was as nice as I had been but HE WAS A MAN. And suddenly the people at SNAFU were throwing in a FREE TABLE and promising that the order was being shipped that day-

AND LO AND BEHOLD….it WAS shipped that day and now lucky Will is laughing no more as he has three benches, six garden chairs, and THREE tables to assemble.

The people in my family seem to have this great need to go west to places named after St. James.

First, my main person took off for Spain and a town called Santiago. Now another key member of my staff pack, Emily, has gone west to San Diego.

All this makes me wonder…. What am I? Chopped Liver?

I entertain. I sing. I look gorgeous. Isn’t this enough?

Moving on…. I bravely put aside my angst to answer the clarion call of those still in the office. It was, indeed, music to my ears: I am needed!

This morning, a crash course with Will prepared me to answer all your phone questions and generally fill in for the missing Sheehan women on email, at the computers, on the phones and at the shipping stations.

Bring on the calls. I am ready.

Post early morning tennis. My tennis whites always look good, but the glare was intense on the courts today.

Sometimes it’s soooooooo exhausting to be a Diva.

But then again, sometimes it’s not.

What with Reina hogging the blog, it’s been difficult to keep up with discussing Lizzy’s Camino Essences while she walks through these places on her third Camino.

Today, I thought I would discuss Lizzy’s Essences from Los Arcos and La Rioja. She has just passed through Los Arcos and also the region of La Rioja and is heading today for an albergue Ben found in Granon during his Camino.

So move over Reina, I need the computer.

Here is Lizzy’s description from our Guide for the Los Arcos Essence.

LOS ARCOS
Keynote: Release
Finding the bravery to move ahead on your own and at the same time being open to support from unusual places and activities.

This was a particularly tough stretch of the trail for me. I was traveling with two souls that were very kind, but spoke no English. This night we slept in a small town at the base of a beautiful mountain with ruins of a castle on top. The village was nearly deserted. The only life was an ice cream truck that rolled through town in the afternoon. The castle could be seen from miles off and when it came into view I had one of those experiences of recognition that is core deep, but often completely mysterious. The next morning brought me to another internal crossroads. One of the Italians had left before dawn and the other was having severe problems with his achilles tendon and the dreaded tendonitis, something I also was starting to feel. On the flat and empty plains, covered in nothing but grain as far as the eye could see, I set off walking totally on my own. I was solo for the first time on the trip. When I lost sight of my Italian friend behind me, I knew I was truly in the universe’s hands. What that morning brought was the narrow and winding streets of Los Arcos, the most delicious cookies I have ever eaten in my life, as well as the company of an older German man who wanted to practice his English with me. He shared with me that his mother was named Elizabeth, just like me. These gifts though small, helped me to feel taken care of. I walked on with the growing awareness that the trail would support me along its length.

The theme of Los Arcos has been a big one in my life. Sometimes I’ve expected support from people whom conventional wisdom suggested would offer support only to find myself disappointed that the support is not there. It’s a pattern I can fall into which is why this Flower Essence has been a good friend for me. I’m always glad when I let go of my expectations and make the turn towards a different paradigm. These Los Arcos moments of release have been profound because the best things in my life have been the unexpected love and support from people I didn’t know and from realities beyond my ken.

As we have watched this Essence go out into the world, we hear back that it’s helped others as well to expand their sense of possibility about the imaginative ways we can care for each other- Perhaps what this Essence is really about is expanding our definition of self and experiencing that oft mentioned oneness more fully.

When I look for specific people to help me in any given situation, I act out limited illusions of us and others. When I relax into the truth of Los Arcos, I find myself in the marvelous expansive experience of oneness. My filters about where to expect things to come from are the thing that needs to go in most situations. These filters are what gives me pain. When I can embrace the true infinite love of oneness, the adventure is completely different.

One experience I had with this release process happened when Green Hope Farm was a young business. I expected friends and family of origin to be interested in what I was learning and interested in our Flower Essences. This isn’t what happened. I felt a lot of disappointment at the time about this, and it still strikes me as odd that we are much better known almost anywhere on Earth than we are in the village where I live, but in learning to lay down this expectation of where the interest and support for Green Hope Farm would come from, I opened up to wonderful friendships all over the Earth. In releasing my expectations, I was given so much more than I could imagine in you and in the ways the Flower Essences would serve others.

Here is Lizzy’s description from our Guide for the La Rioja Essence.

LA RIOJA
Keynote: Creativity
Discovering your unique autonomy, cultivating your deep creative strengths, and then turning them into assets in obtaining the life you desire.

This essence came from a beautiful and very proud region of La Rioja. This small, but autonomous region is known around the world for its wines. Many hours were spent walking in rust red soil next to the fields where grapes grew. This summer happened to be one of the rainiest in Spanish history. The trail beside the vineyards was both breathtaking and crazy making, because the mud was thick, wet, and deep. It would cling to the soles of your shoes, and could topple your wobbly balance at any moment. I must admit I took a few not so graceful falls, but I blame it all on my pack. As I encountered clusters of people out in the fields and the occasional lone farmer, it became clear that the grapes were a source of life both economically and spiritually for the people of this region and for that reason the land vibrated with the energy of respect and gratitude.

I never quite saw the connection between this La Rioja Flower Essence and Los Arcos Flower Essence until today. I see how in letting go of my expectation about what my creative endeavors would look like and releasing my pursuit of people’s approval by doing creative activities that didn’t push so many buttons, I finally let myself go fully into my own creative realm where I could joyfully be me.

Many years ago when I told friends and family that Angels had encouraged me that I would find my livelihood through the Flowers I love, my sharing was greeted by disbelief, amusement and cynicism. I am a dogged earnest person not naturally given to cynicism so I kept going with the gardens even when others thought I was just deluding myself. How wonderful that in persisting, the Angels led us to Flower Essences that can support others to persist in their dreams.