Getting off the Island was not as easy as we thought. I was leaving on a speed boat (one hour ride) at noon and Mags/Mum and Morag (the correct spelling) were going on the one o'clock boat because the noon boat was full. We are told that the ocean is always rough when there is a full moon and this is a particularly rough ocean. We start to ride and it is really scary. I instantly start talking to this wonderful woman behind me. She is and Aussie (Gotta love the Australians and Canadians) and her name is Sally and we start pouring out our lives to each other. We are both well aware that the more we keep talking the less we will focus on how horrendous this ride is. We slam duck so many times, so hard that I think, I will never be able to father a child. Sally and I are suddenly so bummed that we didn't meet on the Island because we would have had so much fun hanging out. The ride takes and extra half hour but we arrive safely. I was never so happy to see land. I have hired my friends Wydia and Alik from the village to pick us up. We find out that their is a storm and they are rerouting the boat that Mags and Morag are on and it will take them three and half hours to arrive. We can't wait that long so I just assume we will met up at the hotel. Morag has booked the hotel and she and Mags have stayed their before and they tell me it is really special. On the way to Ubud I suddenly realize I don't know the name of the hotel and I don't have Morag's mobile. I assumed they would be with me in the car an instruct Wydia with the location of the hotel. I can't for the life of me think of the hotel and I am starting to freak. I don't know where I am going, I have no way to contact my friends and I am at a loss. Wydia says "Don't worry Mr. Jon we can work this out, if worse comes to worse I will take you to Artini." I shout out "What did you just say...Artini I think that sounds right." We call information and sure enough they say they are waiting for Mr. Jon, Mum and daughter. I ask Wydia "Of all the countless hotels on Ubud how did you pick Artini?" He laughs and say "I don't know it came out of the air and I don't won't Mr. Jon to worry or be unhappy." Well, I can't begin to tell you how pleased he was with himself. We drive the rest of the way changing song lyrics to include Obama. "Take me home county road, to the place I belong, West Virgina, Mr. Obama take us home. take us home." Home indeed, Artini is like no place I have EVER been. There is a 15 foot wall with Hindu God statues and all kinds of plants growing out of the stone facing the pool. I am in a tree house with a 20 foot vaulted ceiling with bamboo and an art piece in the center. I have a deck facing these lush gardens and a wall of windows fading gardens and Hindu statues. All of this for $45 a night.
Mags and Morag and I continue to eat and laugh a lot...as our love, friendship and bond quietly deepens. Morag and I go to the Village for a ceremonial dance celebration (Mum has the right idea and decided to stay in for the night) and Morag and I are in the midst of an incredible storm. Morag and I were literally climbing up hills with water gushing at us with a torrential force. Morag lost her shoes and their were enormous trees that fell down, rocks, heads of statues floating by. We thought we lost my friends from the village so we just tried to walk home in the deluge. Thank God they found us and drove us back the rest of the way. I kept praying that we didn't get struck by lighning, break a leg or get hit by a car. Mum was waiting up because she was worried about us in this downpour. I had a scotch with Mum as Morag and I recalled the escapades of the night. Trust me it was a night that neither of us will ever forget.
The first time I was in Udud I was taking a disco nap and all of the sudden I heard the sky break open and I thought holy shit this is it the world is coming to an end. I am not joking people I eally thought this. I was hoping that God would open the ski, extend his hands in a munficent gesture, gather up all of the fundamentalist, Zealots all for the Christan nuts and scream "This is not what I meant, you got it all wrong you fools, when will you stop killing each other, their is no Holy Land it is all Holy ever square inch of it, Stop beating your wives, Hurting your sons and daughters, for Gods sake, (actually that would be My sake) stop killing, torturing, hurting, and judging each other or I am taking all of this away. You get it you bloddy fools." I rush to the window and open the curtains and the sky is still. I hear the sky break open again and I think Oh My God we are being attached. Bali was attached in 2001 and 2005 and several hundred people were killed so this is not out of the realm. I am putting on some clothes to go to the lobby and find out what is happening. The sky breaks open again but this time sheets and sheets of rain come down. I realize this is thunder and I am in the rainy season. I have never seen rain or head thunder like this in my life. I am told today that this is the worst monsoon season they have had in years. Don't get me wrong I Iove this rain and thunder it makes you feel so alive like the earth is talking to you.
I will do my very best to explain this but I can't even understand it. I only spent two weeks with Mags and Morag and it felt like we had been traveling for a year. There are a years worth of memories, laughter, tears, confidences and a bonding that defies definition. It happened collectively and separately with each of us. This whirlwind of love and friendship that usurped our bodies almost seemed to be out of our control. We were destined to met (Remember I had no desire to go to Phenom Penn) and develop this lifelong friendship. When Morag left on Tuesday I just looked at her and cried and said "I really really love you, you are so deep in my heart how did that happen?" Morag looked at me and said "I know I really love you, and we will be friends for life."
The next day Mags left in the morning. This was the goodbye I was dreading. I just sobbed and told Mags what and inspiration she was to me and how much I loved her. She pulled me back and put both her hands on my shoulders...the way you do when you really want someone to hear what you are going to say "I want you at my deathbed. I want you there." I said that can't be for a long time." Mags said twenty five years from now, I said give me thirty and we both laughed. When she said that I new exactly what she meant..I understood. I mad a promise to Mags, to myself and the Hindu Gods around me that when the time came no matter where I was I would be there.
Mags doesn't even know the significance of what she asked me she will read it on this blog no doubt. When my Mother was dying of Leukemia eight years ago I flew to New York twice to be at her deathbed. I wanted nothing more in the world then to be there to help her pass over. Help her go to the light as they say, or just close the light when the mid-day sun was too strong, to put a cold towel on her head. Remember I am a dam good nurse. But my mother was afraid of dying and my being there freaked her out. She sent me home in a very cold and dismissive manner. The doctor told me that my presence was agitating her and I should go back to LA and wait for the phone call. I know my Mother loved me deeply and I now know she was just scared. My Father or sisters would have been with her in a minute if that was what she wanted. She died alone and I have come to understand that was the only ways she could do it. When Mags made that request it touched me in so many ways in ways she didn't even know. I walked past all of the gardens and statues and all of the beautiful male staff in their green and gold sarongs looked a me and said "Mr. Jon are you O.K." I just broke down like a Ford. They rushed over and said "Don't worry you will see your Mum soon, you just have a heavy heart today." They ran around getting me tissues, holding me, rubbing my shoulders a few of them teared up. They all loved Mum as well and felt my sadness. Every time they see me they ask if I am O.K. and take such good care of me. Do you see why I love this people?
I hire Alic to take me on a three our trekking trip through the rice fields to get my mind of the absence of my friends. To be deep inside the fields was beyond words. Alic was so impressed with my stamina and balancing abilities. You walk on these little narrow strips of grass or mud in your bare feet. Thank God I have the athletic ability of David Beckham, O.K. David Cassidy, alright alright, David Brenner.
Tonight I went to a ceremony in the Village with my friends and it was a ceremony they do twice a year to bless metal. Not Heavy Metal but all of the metal they own. They bring their motorbikes, knives, pots hatchets for harvesting the rice. The dress me in full Hindu drag so I can enter the Temple and their is dancing, and prayer and it is really something to see. I was the only non-Hindu at the ceremony (around 500 people) and I felt welcomed by everyone. It has me wondering what Americas culture is. Sure we have baseball and other such events but it has left me at a loss. I need to ponder this some more because I am not sure what I really want to say. I will say that my heart belongs to Bali and I am a Bali boy that is for certain. I have been touched deeply by so many people here and have been bathing in their culture. It has changed me in ways I don't even understand. What I do know is this that on this journey may have been the hour that I first really belived.
Your Loyal Rolling Stone,
xoxo
PS I have 11 days left on this journey and so much to share so blogs should be coming your way at a rapid pace. Usually an 11 day vaction will thrill me and I am so sad that this is all I have left...imagine that...imagine how lucky I feel.
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