About 3 years ago, my sister Beth moved from Austin, TX to Baton Rouge, from 7 hours away to 1.5 on a good day.
On Friday we had a long phone conversation and decided that since we both had Monday free, I would drove over to Baton Rouge for the day.
Beth is immersed in an intense yoga training, so she used me as a guinea pig to practice her instruction. I was excited to get a free yoga class. She has even learned some of the difficult words.
For lunch we met up with one of her new friends from yoga training. They were cute as they talked about the energy of the chakra teacher. What I enjoyed about having a third person at lunch was it gave me and Beth the opportunity to tell some of our shared history. We talked about stories from our childhood in which we had different perspectives. Beth is seven years younger, so when I talked about the flood of ‘79, I spoke about trauma while Beth saw it as an adventure. We both recognized and learned that family and community are most important.
The spring day was a beauty with wisteria blooming on a trellis at the outdoor restaurant. Beth remembers wisteria growing near our childhood home. Wisteria is a strong growing plant that symbolizes a strength and resilience that Beth is feeling drawn to. We didn’t, however, sit near the hovering flowers because they were covered in bees.
We ended our day together by getting pedicures, a pure luxury.
I traveled home feeling refreshed and refueled. Totally worth the travel time.
Reflections on the Teche 