#itsallhappening: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

I love The Wizard of Oz. It's such a fascinating movie. As kids, my siblings and I watched it over and over til the paper box was ripped and the tape had lines from so much wear on the film. Little did I know that as an adult I would revisit it to find so much more meaning. I draw comparison to it often.

Today I returned to the movie during my yoga practice, as a return to so many things... I have been missing Spain A LOT. During the winter months, which I don't necessarily enjoy, I find myself missing things, longing to be in the warm weather, longing to be close to others, longing to be anywhere but HERE, freezing my butt off and not able to sit out on the grass in the sun. And I always think about Spain - the friends, the food, the culture, the music, the life, the language, all of it. I do this, often, when I start to miss things. So in my yoga practice I let my mind wander there. I went back to my jobs, I went back to the schools I worked at, the students I taught, the homes that I lived in and created during my short stays. And then I realized something... wait a second. That house that I lived in... it's like the house that I live in now... but different. Minor differences, but the same. Let me explain.

The apartment that I lived in in Jaén was owned by a woman and her husband. She had grown up in that apartment, made the pillow and furniture covers, comforters, and curtains, and made careful selection as to whom she let rent the space. I took the largest room with a huge closet, a table, and its own balcony. It was my sanctuary. I took siestas on the balcony in the sun, I had a view of the Castillo de Santa Catalina, and I had a large space to call my own. I felt settled, I felt at home, I let myself enjoy, relax, ground, bask in the pleasure of the short time spent in that place. I had three Spanish roommates, two my age but still studying and the third, older, lived in the room by the exit and the common area, who lived a sort of hippie-gypsy lifestyle, and worked at a local restaurant. It was a great group, we got along great, and they taught me SO much of the language, about life there, and about local customs and traditions. It was an incredible experience.

I loop this back to my life TODAY. I live in an apartment with three people, again. This time we are in New York, and instead of a balcony with a view of a castle, I have a fire escape with a view of the busy uptown Broadway (not the musical theatre Broadway, but the busy street). Instead of me living in the bigger room, I live in the smallest room, by the exit, next to the living room, living a sort of hippie-gypsy lifestyle. It's like I am now the other roommate, it's like the roommate I have now is like me, but before, or in the future, or whenever it might be. Instead of living with three Spanish girls, I am living with three artists: an opera singer, a musical theatre performer, and a ballerina. It's like the same faces, the same story, but different. It's like The Wizard of Oz, how the faces she sees and knows in Kansas are the ones she meets in Oz, just different, just as metaphors for what might be the insecurities in that other life. It's all the same story just seen through different eyes.

So what's the difference between Dorothy at the beginning of the film and at the end? From "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to "There's No Place Like Home"? Gratitude. That's it. Really. A focus on what I have here and now, who I am here and now, who I am with here and now OR a focus on what I want out there somewhere, the unknown, the greener grass, the bigger room, the balcony with a view of a castle. The only difference is her focus. At the end she comes to in a room surrounded by the same faces, the same people, and all the while in Oz, was missing them even though they were there. She just needed to bring her attention to it. And little did she know, she had the power within her all the time. Home was within her. Love was within her. She just had to learn it for herself <3
#noplacelikehome #notinjaenanymore #JNP #pasiempre #itsallthesamestory #greatandpowerfuloz #overtherainbow #ROYGBIV #irememberscienceclass #magiceverywhere #itsallhappening

THROWBACK:

The View from my balcony in Jaén, mira el castillo al fondo! (Look at the castle at the top!)