Wanderlust

Mel here…

I miss you Wanderlust! In Oakland, working too much and trying to not get *too* overwhelmed in this gigantic family reunion that is overtaking my life and lasting over a week. I think this is FAR too long for any kind of family gathering (except of course a Wanderlust one), but that’s just me….Anyways, I took out some of my overwhelmed frustration on the road today, but as a road-rage biker Naw, just kidding- I didn’t cuss at anyone loud enough for them to hear! But damn, after Wanderlust I feel super strong and super fast on my bike, it’s totally empowering, and then in Oakland you have all these (dare I say this?) wannabe bikers who are SO slow and weave back and forth, and all this traffic that thinks you are also slow and don’t know what you’re doing, which means they don’t actually pay attention to your signals! But not to worry, since I always wear my helmet and I know what I’m tryin’ to do out there so cars and slow bikers can’t get in my way

I wanted to be able to post something rather extraordinary, something that could approach the extraordinariness of Wanderlust, and yet now that I’m here writing I just feel overwhelmed because how could I even begin to approach the extraordinariness of Wanderlust, much less explain it in words? I think that what’s needed at this moment is a list. I’m not sure what exactly this is a list of, but I know that these following things are on it:-

-bicycle tattoo with six stars over my right kidney, drawn by Alex who is also left-handed and loves birds almost as much as i do

-New York hustle bustle concrete jungle, me walking zoned out in its wake, dreaming of bicycles and remembering i have a life waiting for me on the other coast

-a greeting from one of my students the first day back at work: “you flew all the way home to us, melon! your wings must be SOOO tired!” (they long since identified my bird alter ego)

-riding Remedios to work and friends and errands thro the streets of Oakland, feeling kick ass and listening to Paper Planes by M.I.A. on repeat while i slam up the steep hills

-delicious breakfast at Blackberry Bistro with my parents, my sister, and…my girlfriend (this is after they were visiting for the huge family reunion and came early to my house to bring me coffee as a sweet surprise but instead caught me and Remedios coming up the steps to my house after a night out at my girlfriends’ house….at which point, i decided honesty was definitely the best course to follow and i told them i had spent the night at someone’s house and then i told them her name and THEN i asked them if they wanted to meet her for breakfast the next morning, at which point my mom answered “i KNEW it would be a girl!” and my dad did his best accepting shrug, which after seeing it several times i take to mean that he is totally freaked out by me being a dyke but he really loves me and is doing his best to be supportive)

-looking at the full moon out my window: feeling again the moon/ stars/ dark sky/ rustling leaves/ shared lives/ communal slumber

-Monterrey Market in Berkeley, eating peaches and drinking peachy drinks at a celebration of the 40th birthday party of my best friends’ Sun Crest peaches, tears coming to my eyes as she beats loud and angry on her taiko drum while her dad reads about destructive hail storms, and then later she talks about power & privilege and a food revolution and- eyes closed- i touch hands with a stranger, following an exercise she makes us all do, and i feel wanderlust rising within me and i feel her powerful dynamic energy and i realize it’s the same thing and damn that’s like a mind orgasm

-hot tubbing with my family and sharing a glass of red wine with my mom (Grapefull Sisters, Noras’ aunts’ house both come to mind)

-browsing the library catalog this afternoon for “Dreaming the Dark” by Starhawk

Maybe I’ll get the neck tattoo after all. Maybe the list’s name is: Until Wanderlust ‘09. Maybe I’ll do a solo, self-contained tour up to the Arctic Circle and back in Sweden.
Maybe I will start making good on my dream to “write something.” Let’s go tho, y’all, cuz i’m ready! xoxo mel