Fear

We got in from our trip to California on Tuesday night. When we left North Carolina, the earthquake hadn't happened yet. As soon as we got there, I saw what Mother Earth is truly capable of. She's growing, as are we. My parents were concerned about the yet to come tsunami and we'd barely checked in. That was the beginning.

After we'd been in Berkeley a few days, things started to calm down. The West coast was going to be just fine. Just prior to that, I had a meltdown. Our hotel in Berkeley is known as a "soft building." Essentially our building was not up to code. We were booked for three nights through Monday morning. I thought the big one was coming. My big one did come. I had everything we brought stacked by the door in case we had to "make a run for it." At this point, Liz started worrying as well. I realized that before I'd turned on the local news, I had been in a good mood. I turned it off and we went out for dinner.

We then proceeded to Cafe Gratitude. This is where everything changed. All menu items are named "I am x." I ordered I Am Elated and Liz had I Am Transformed. This unconsciously became our mantras for the remainder of our time there, we just hadn't realized it yet. I could commit every adventure to text, but I'm not going to. Let's just say that one thing led to another.
 Amber from epicself.com met up with us in San Francisco. I really liked the city but it didn't feel like it could be home. Amber was so helpful and so engaging. Positive energy flows from her. She mentioned being from Santa Cruz. She recommended driving down through Silicon Valley to the beach there. I'm so glad we did.

We fell in love with Santa Cruz, pretty much from Saturn Cafe on. That's where I met the crust punks. Those are my people, plain and simple. It reminded me of my time in the band Undying and our European tour. Nicest people on Earth and I'm not at all exaggerating. They have a "Free Skool" that teaches kids to get out of our current, impending system of doom. They have a great record store and health food store as well. There's a pretty good chance we'll end up moving out there at some point in the future.

After that we took the Pacific Coast Highway into the Redwoods. If you've never made this trip, it's something you should do before you die. I didn't even take pictures there. I didn't want to miss one moment of the sheer magic that inhabits the area. From there it was on to Napa and Sacramento. I like Sacramento a lot and we ate lunch at an Ethiopian Vegan Buffet. I stayed as Raw as I could on this trip without infringing on Liz's right to eat cooked Vegan.

I conquered my fears on this trip. All of them. If I can handle a tsunami/earthquake warning, I can handle just about anything else as well. Fear is a subtle parasite. It fed on my energy for 32 years. No more. I found a transcendental balance I never even knew was possible. I challenge you to face your fears as well. Life is Raw just like the food we put in our bodies. I welcome it with open arms.