Taking action with what you've got

This post has turned out to be a kind of sequel to my July post about the limitations of taking action under adverse circumstances. I didn’t actually plan it this way, but here it is.

Having children pretty much always takes a lot of a person’s choices away—or at least it should. There are examples of parents who go off to do their own thing and voluntarily leave their children to be cared for by others, but barring that, parenting generally means a lot of restrictions on one’s own choices. Parenting kids with developmental disabilities multiplies that constraint many times over.

I did try to make my own choices within those boundaries while my kids were growing up, but the limited range of possible choices felt very restrictive at times. I couldn’t go to graduate school, travel or even work a solid job. I couldn’t choose what I was going to eat without the significant expense and time outlay of making separate meals. I couldn’t up and go someplace for a few days. On the vast majority of days, I couldn’t choose what I wanted to do beyond a few minutes early in the morning.

Night camp with the lights of the grande ronde valley - image by arie farnam

Events came and happened to me. Life got incrementally and sometimes suddenly harder. Any steps I wanted to take, even just to get help for my high-needs kids, were many times harder than they would have been alone. It was like slogging through knee deep mud while wearing chains. I rarely felt like I could take any particular action to change my life for the better. Now, that both of my kids are temporarily in other households, bits of my own agency have returned to me.

This return has dawned on me gradually. In the first weeks, it was all I could do to recover and put my home back together—as if after a hurricane. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in my special chair by the window, enjoying morning chai and the golden light on the tree outside after my meditation practice, and that part of my mind began pining for the mountains again.

This comes on me every few months. I spent a good part of my youth backpacking either in the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon or in other countries around the world where I travelled. I loved being in the mountains far from cars and crowds, especially in Eastern Oregon where the natural environment is so magical, wild and relatively clean. The yearning came back that morning with a vengeance, and I was so used to just sitting with it and accepting it as a longing which cannot be fulfilled, that I didn’t go beyond that for some time.

When my children were very small, backpacking wasn’t an option. Even before that, I found that my health difficulties were making it complicated. Whenever I went on a hike with friends, my body ached and my feet were so sore by the end of the day that I was in extreme pain and couldn’t enjoy camp life. I was always too slow for the rest of the group and the length of the hike was beyond what I could handle.

Once my kids were old enough, we did take them camping fairly often, but it was a grueling ordeal. Their disabilities made camp life even more arduous than it usually is and their hygiene even harder to keep up to a bare minimum. At least one of them refused any kind of hike, so we always had to car camp in crowded, noisy campgrounds. Again, for various reasons, it was mostly miserable.

What I long for is not car camping next to a bunch of drunk college kids. It isn’t even hiking 15 miles with a 30 pound pack at a pace that is swift enough that I have to keep my eyes glued to the trail to keep from tripping. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that what I yearn for is not that unreasonable, at least not in my current situation.

I am no longer a young girl, afraid to be alone. I enjoy solitude. I have the skills to deal with the mountains. And if I hiked five miles, instead of fifteen, I wouldn’t be miserable and I’d still get away from the noisiest campgrounds. I no longer have to take kids with me who refuse to go to natural places or who can’t stay safe in a camp situation—at least not every day of the week. And for the moment, my work is flexible enough that backpacking doesn’t have to be restricted only to weekends when I have kid duty.

It hit me like a sudden revelation. In this case, despite the many barriers and difficulties, I can do something to change my life in a way that will make me happy.

I realized that one other thing that has held me back with backpacking is always having crappy, second-hand gear. So, I researched and saved and pinched pennies. And I was able to buy not just a new sleeping bag and pad but the type I actually want—not the top of the line necessarily, but a pad that is rated for people with back problems. And my gear is light enough to carry without making those problems worse. I ordered an ultra-light tent for just one person. I’m not going to count on anyone else coming along.

But the tent hasn’t come and the warm season is nearly over for now, so I borrowed an old rickety tent with a busted pole and a makeshift rainfly and tested out the rest of my gear on top of Pumpkin Ridge. I was delighted to find that the specialized pad really is much better than the old, twentieth century gear I’m used to. I made tea and watched the lights in the valley while the sounds of the meadow rustled softly.

While I lay in the dark, coyotes howled off to the west—a sound I find comforting, though I’ve seen others panic at it. I know from experience that coyotes won’t mess with a camp. Around about 4:00 in the morning, I was awakened by the thud of hooves nearby in the meadow—several elk or deer passed through. And again, I could be confident they would keep their distance.

To be clear, I am arming myself with high-end pepper spray and hope to soon have a dog. Taking action on your own is not about being reckless. But there is a great deal to be said for finding a way to do what you want that is not reliant on others or on circumstances.

A big part of what has made this possible is the improvement of my health, but that too has been a matter of taking the metaphorical bull by the horns. I am nearing two years on a strict ketogenic diet modified for diabetics and the results have been astounding.

My doctor has taken to telling me “whatever you’re doing, just keep doing it.” Another doctor wants to claim the original diagnosis must have been wrong because “no one can beat diabetes like that.” But I know I haven’t actually beaten it. It will come back—not just eventually but within hours—if I fall off the wagon, which I’ve found out by making the occasional unintentional mistake.

As the sun peeked through the pines on the ridge, I heated water on my tiny, lightweight stove, added tea powder, MCT oil, butter and dehydrated coconut. It makes for a fortifying, healthy, ketogenic drink that keeps me running for hours in the morning. I did my exercises on the ridge top, balancing in various poses above the crackly leaves of mule’s ear and the spiky dry grasses. Then I shouldered my pack and hiked down again.

Since my child-care duties have been relieved a bit, I’ve started a daily exercise routine, primarily to strengthen core muscles. I go to acupuncture and the occasional massage to help the arthritis in my spine. I can’t guarantee I’ll always be able to backpack and it took two years of hard work to get even to this modest level of fitness again, but this is my version of taking charge of my life.

My next adventure will be to apply for the Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Eastern Oregon University over the winter. It will take a minor miracle in financing, since there is only one scholarship for one student and I need to be the one chosen in order to make ends meet. It will also take my childcare supports staying put, which is by no means guaranteed. But by next summer, I hope to be a graduate student who occasionally gets to go hiking.

The morning rays of a new life have come and I’ve taken up the work of rediscovering my own agency. Sure, it’s tenuous and quite different from what I hoped and dreamed thirty years ago. But it has brought me back to the core elements of what my soul needs.