Last year about this time I wrote about wabi sabi in my blog.  Wabi sabi (which comes out of Japanese ideology) focuses on the beauty in imperfection and the wisdom in being satisfied with what you have (as opposed to wishing for or always striving for more).  My wabi sabi focus tends to be one of relaxing more and letting go of my never-ending to-do list – it is my effort to back away from the 100 mile an hour race my life can be at times.

Never do I feel more in touch with my wabi sabi self than when I am in Emmitsburg, Maryland at the National Emergency Training Center (NETC).  The NETC is the home base for the Emergency Management Institute and the National Fire Academy and over the past eight years or so it has become a home away from home for me – a sanctuary of sorts.   To be sure, aside from my home in West Fargo, I have spent more nights out in Emmitsburg than anywhere else as I am typically there three to four weeks a year.  I have some treasured friends there and seeing them here and there in the midst of hectic years refreshes my soul.

It doesn’t hurt that the facility – even on its gloomiest day – is breathtaking and majestic.  It exists in a setting that is more rural than urban and it sports all the wildlife one might expect to see in a location that has woods and a creek nearby – it is, to say the least, picturesque.  It is also a very old and historical facility having been a women’s college run by nuns way back in the day.   Camp David is just a hop, skip and a jump away from the NETC and I certainly can understand why as the whole area is really quite beautiful and peaceful…very wabi sabi like.  Which I must say I find comforting seeing as it has often been utilized by our presidents as a place for reflection regarding tough issues.

The last time I was to head out to Emmitsburg was October 12, 2010.  Alas, on the eve of October 11th the Galleria fire occurred and I didn’t board the plane the following morning.  Not so today though, today I am off to Emmitsburg to spend a few days on the NETC campus and to do some subject matter expert work for FEMA; and,  in the process I am hoping to put the wabi back in my sabi.  It has been an uncharacteristically long time since my last visit in early June 2010 and with the way the past year has gone it has been far too long to be away.

So expect to hear from my more wabi sabi self over the next few days – the version of me that breathes deeply, meanders down paths shared by squirrels and bunnies and birds, that laughs with abandon, leaves the to-do list at home, lives in the moment and that says good morning with a smile to lots of adorable firefighters (uh, yeah – that goes a long way in putting the wabi back in my sabi).  😉

Day five hundred and eighty-eight of the new forty – obla di obla da

Ms. C