So much gratitude

I am still trying to catch up with the blog about our time in Burma. It is hard for me to call it Myanmar as this is not a name decided on by the people. It is a construct of the government to tidy up and make new the atrocities that can never really be swept under the carpet just by offering a new name. My friends there say it will always be Burma to them.

I have so many thoughts about the experiences encountered in our travels. Everyday was an opportunity to experience ever emotion known to the psyche. For the most part, on a daily basis, it is always easy to feel grateful. Not only for this one simple life I am trying to navigate but for the nuances of it...like the fact that I was born in America, that I speak English, that no one cares that I love women and choose to partner with them in life when the occasion presents itself. Grateful that I don't have to be married (although it might be nice) to have a child, grateful that if I choose to not marry I am not considered a spinster and have to live at home with my parents the rest of my life...GOD! how awful, or maybe I just really don't know the benefits of this kind of set up. And asking intimate questions about the set up would seem kind of rude really. I have been to my friends houses and seen how they live with their families. The girls all sleep together and so do the boys. Usually on some king-sized platform with a thin futon type mattress on it. They all sleep together. Maybe I have been on my own too long end enjoying my own bed but when do these people get around to masturbating? I am sorry, I hope this is not too intimate of a conversation to be having but really!? I grew up sharing a full-sized bed with my sister's who were older than me and gone before I ever got to junior high. I can not imagine still sleeping with Betsy and Jenny. First of all Betsy kicked if you got too close and Jenny could smother you...and then there was the cat... I realize that this lifetimes destiny has afforded me the opportunity to have privacy, to have the economic ability to have my own household separate from my Father's, to love a woman openly. And I can not tell you how grateful I am. Burma is constructed of over 95% Buddists and there is no end in sight of beautiful pagoda's built by single men, entire villages of people who did so willingly or not so willingly under the confines of slavery, but the pagodas are everywhere and available for anyone to drop onto their knees and pay homage at any time.

And so we did. Or at least I did everyday and Will would usually join if he was so moved. There is really nothing quite as gratifying as getting on your knees, bowing and praying. I grew up doing this almost every Sunday at St. Brigid's but honestly, it felt a little empty. Where was the perfect life I was asking and praying so hard for at times...I laugh about it now. Because the Buddha is in front of my on this trip I pray to him, but I know that whatever forces beyond my imagination help to guide me, I know they too, are picking up on the transmissions from my head and from my heart.

Our last night in Rangoon we were out walking late after a successful trip to the internet (only happened twice in three weeks) that left us both feeling full of warm loving feelings and we came across the Sule Paya (the only pagoda that I have ever seen that is smackdab right in the middle of the road with a traffic circle around it and a long trail of people just cutting through it to make it to the other side of the road). Anyway, here we were walking right by it and feeling so good and the moon was full and high in the sky and we decided to take one last opportunity to go in and pay homage. We were quickly told that to come in we would have to pay 1000 kyat to have someone "watch " our shoes. this is less than a dollar but we had exactly enough kyat to pay for the taxi to get to the airport in the morning. I said we did not have enough to go in and we turned to leave and the sweet lady quickly said Oh...please, for you, free. And we were off. We paid our homage and hung out for awhile looking at the moon over the top of the gold and ruby crusted top of the pagoda. Quite a site, glad we did not miss it.

One strange occurrence to the last day in Rangoon was this kid who kept finding us all over town and I will leave it at that as Will has agreed to blog later about this strange character.

Ok, we are off to buy some presents and pack up our shit because we are out of here at the buttcrack of day tomorrow.

Oh, speaking of butt's...I am learning so much on this trip...for instance to "shart" means when you think you have to fart and something else happens....this is really good stuff.

And, i need one last massage.

willandCODY