Thirteen is the lucky number

I wanted to post this on my work anniversary in May. Or, it would have been fun if I’d known that Friday the 13th was coming last week and I posted then. But it’s Summer Solstice today and that feels right too. All this to say, I’m a teenager again! My years as an LMT has entered the teens anyway. May 16th marked 13 years since I was officially licensed. It seems to be another lifetime ago, yet I can remember that period in my life like my favorite movie. I had so many wonderful moments at Oregon School of Massage with a staff of incredible teachers and classrooms of like-minded companions, that I had no doubt I was on the right path. It was one of the most exhilarating and self-empowering times I’ve experienced and definitely one of the best decisions I ever made. I can honestly say I love what I do more than ever, and much like going to school, while the education was interesting and fun, it was the teachers and classmates that made the experience unforgettable. In that same vein, it is the clients that continue to make my work fulfilling, as well as fun. I am just so grateful for all of the interesting, talented, funny, kind and all-around wonderful people that I get to engage with and help every week. Thank you for choosing me and continuing to choose me.

However I must confess, I have had another full-time job this Spring. As many of you know, I’ve been trying to create a space that feels like a woodland retreat. so on the days I’m not massaging, I’ve been digging and planting and mulching and planting and chopping and planting and planting and planting. I planted, coincidentally but fittingly, 13 fruit trees and multiple types of berries including many berry-producing native trees and shrubs for the wild animals. In the center of it all, I created a row of garden beds out of the arbor vitae I chopped down in order to replace with a native hedgerow. I haven’t counted, but hmm, let’s say there are about 13 native shrubs and trees now bordering the yard as well. On the hillside, I continue to protect the baby madrone trees and new native flowers from the always encroaching weeds hoping that it will look like a wildflower meadow someday.

I’m happy when I see clients stop to enjoy the little pond now surrounded by flowers for the hummingbirds and pollinators, or walk out onto the deck where there’s often a bald eagle or heron fishing on the log in the river. I want this place to feel like a retreat and as I’m typing this looking at the herb garden and all the blooming flowers in front of another future pond site under a very welcome Solstice rainstorm, I’m now starting to see this vision come into being. Here's a little before and after pic of the yard in front of the studio. The dirt picture looks better than the true before. It was all weeds, vines, logs, rocks and a lot of plastic, glass and metal garbage. It was hard to get a good pic of all the new tree and shrub babies, but here’s the veggie garden in the middle of it all with happy songbirds eating and drinking (in a rare moment a squirrel isn’t dangling on the feeder).

Someone else is turning 13 this year. It’s the girl who is sometimes mistaken for a raccoon with her excitedly puffed tail running around – Tiger, aka Tigré when she’s feeling fancy, aka Tyger the Stryker when she’s doing her parkour. More commonly seen (and heard!) is my tuxedo boy Alex, full name Alexzander Alekseyev. He just had a birthday too. I don’t know his age, but I’m guessing around 14. What I do know is that I’ve had him almost exactly as long as I’ve been an LMT. So he’s been with me 13 years. This boy is my heart and there’s something special about this timely “coincidence”.

I also had a birthday recently. I'm far from 13 but it did feel like 13 years since I’d taken a vacation. It has been 2 years though! I celebrated by taking my first overnight trip since my birthday 2 years ago, not long before I found this house, and went to the coast with my friend for the most delicious food and incredible hiking into old growth sequoia. With all these plant babies, it may be a while before I can take another trip since I don’t expect many more rains in the coming months, but I’m enjoying just being here and finding inspiration just blocks away, like in this field of camas flowers at the Canemah Bluff Nature Park. I guess I better get planting again!

Happy Solstice.

Ci vediamo negli alberi ~

Jae