About us… myself “Ara” and my buddy “Spirit”

Monday, January 22nd, 2007

“Maverick Rd” in Big Bend, Texas, at the start of it all, 11 or so years ago.

69 Years can sure be a long biography!

“Any change, any loss, does not make us victims. Others can shake you, surprise you, disappoint you, but they can’t prevent you from acting, from taking the situation you’re presented with and moving on. No matter where you are in Life, no matter what your situation, you can always do something. You always have a choice and the choice can be power”. Blaine Lee

A full blooded Armenian. Born and lived in France for 24 years with the good fortune having been enrolled in the best Culinary School in Switzerland for 3 years, much traveling throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa in pre-war times as my Grand Parents lived in Cairo, Egypt.  Two weeks after graduation, Father said “Son, here is your one way ticket to Philadelphia and $50! Go…”. I don’t know if he said “good bye”. I cannot remember.

Forty some odd years later here I am. Still can’t stand still, nomadic blood is in profusion, must be, in body and mind! Passion and Dreams have always kept me going, as a Restaurant owner, a Bakery owner, a Personal Chef for the most fortunate… or unfortunate wealthy residents of Naples, Florida and World. Never failed, driven by the tribulations of a higher conscience, internal success was always crossed at the finish line.

And now, for the next Episode. “The Oasis of my Soul”, a Journey which has began a bit over 11 years ago, still drawing the “Starting Line”, this endless path Spirit and I have embarked ourselves on. This time the “finish line” does not seem to be in sight.

There is no turning back… there is no Lifestyle that would ever compare to this one. A bad card was dealt over 13  years ago which only seems as yesterday, when my only Child, my Buddy, my Friend, my Son Lance was called away at the young age of 26. This, here, is my “therapy”, my own “validation”, this is my “promise” to Lance to go on, to not give up, this I feel is my last episode of my own Life.

This is my Journal. It is just another Life story with it’s steps awaiting one by one toward healing, toward sensing what was only a blur and a dark tunnel just a few years past. What was once a narrow path has widened joined in by so many Friends and acquaintances lifting us up every step of the way. The World is so full of beautiful people, don’t let anyone tell you of the contrary.

Spirit? well… we have grown together 24/7. He has become my Life as I know vice versa is also true. We are one now. He is quite the rider in his own sidecar and such a ham when wearing his goggles and helmet.

Our destination is unknown, it is the Journey that matters, it is our own growth that sits above it all and guide us through the many moments acquired these days. We pretty much try to follow the weather, North in the Summer and South in the Winter. We have been fortunate to acquire some Land in Texas, near Big Bend. I call it “The Oasis” and it’s giant Fire Ring is the Center of my own Universe where Serenity, Peace and Love reigns within the Spiritual Space we spend some time of the year, sheltered from the harsher elements residing North of us.

Cooking, riding the motorcycle and sidecar rig, my dog Spirit, my Dear Friends, photography, writing, reading, roasting and drinking coffee, camping, sailing, movies… no television and Life itself… all of the above fills up our moments, one at the time.

It is now August 2017 and “The Oasis” has been sold. We traded for a little home in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Closer to Hospitals, Doctors, Food stores, you name it. With a new hip, plate and screws in the spine, full time has turned into part-time…

“When you have lost someone close to you, and friends try to comfort you in your grief, you know–but they don’t– that what you are experiencing is beyond grief.  You sense in your body and in the fullness of your emotion a great rupture in the world you have known, and irrevocable emptiness that is not just to be felt but completely absorbed if you are to go on.  A genuine dark night of the soul takes you this crossroad, this “bardo” place, where you have an opportunity, extremely hard won, to live in a different world.”
~ Thomas Moore ~ [Dark Nights of the Soul]

Be well… always.

Ara & Spirit

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