IN THE WORKS ... A Two-part Article about THE RELATIONSHIP

I wrote something flippant the other day about the meaning of the 'Ole Cycles in the Hawaiian Moon Calendar. 

" So basically in a 30 day period, 'Ole cycles give you 7 days and nights to chill-out and regroove."

The truth of things is that many of the 'Ole Cycles are rarely times of 'chill-out' and most definitely a time to regroove and reasses the conditions of our life.  Pete and I began the process of envisioning Vardo For Two in 2007.  That Christmas my son helped to design and create Kaulana Mahina (the Hawaiian Moon Calendar). That calendar was our Christmas gift, and a major source of balance, structure and reliability at a time when all three were non-existent.  When we were without a home, identity or comfort we turned to the healing regularity of Nature's cycles and began counting on the moon.

Change we experienced individually and as a couple in the years of being homeless and without safe shelter made its way onto pages of blogs.  Someone else must be living these times, yet the need to describe it was my own doing and Sam and Sally became the characters who'd save our lives for something yet to come.  Our life together now is different nearly four years later, better in many ways.  The effects of MCS change us in unique ways because we chose to rebuild a life in a tiny space that can be moved.

We lived in a car for six months, and while learning what EI (enviornmental illness) is including the triggers, symptoms and solutions might be for me (who lives with the more severe level of the illness) it is my partner, and the relationship, that also factor into the whole picture of survival, evolving and accepting the journey.  I'm calling this the "1 plus 1 = 3 The Relationship" because it's the relationship Pete and I create together that is what makes or breaks us as we go through the many hurdles, challenges, decisions, adjustments and movement in our daily life.  Separately we come together with our stengths, personality and ways of thinking and acting.  We also come with our legacies, our history and the secrets we don't even recognize.

Pete and I are working on a two-part article that summons the human and spiritual feel for life as journey, and not destination.:

Part One, The effects of Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) on intimate relationships sights the daily adjustments and (finally, sometimes) the adaptation that take place in an intimate partnership that grows from chronic illness, and specifically MCS. 

Part Two,  The astrological potential of the Composite Chart of partners who live with MCS offers another angle and navigational perspective based on the position of the sun, moon and planets at the time of their births as a "Composite".

Elsa Pannizon, author and creator of the astrology blog Elsa Elsa describes a Composite Chart this way, "As for calculating a composite chart, there are various ways but most common is to take the midpoint between the two Suns and that becomes the Composite Sun. The midpoint between the Moons becomes the Composite  Moon, etc.  I like this method probably due the Libra in my chart as the two individuals meet in the middle and this becomes the relationship. :)"

Come back later in the week for Part Two of "1 plus 1= 3 The Composite Report"  it might just give you something to talk about!

To set the stage for this article ...

The rains have returned to the Pacific Northwest with temperatures an almost comfortable 50 degrees during the day, and mid-40's at night.  Our vardo maintains its haven status with the ceramic heater toasting things up beautifully.  Pete did a thorough housecleaning earlier today using our Rainbow Vacuum and microfiber cleaning clothes.  We try to get the vardo cleaned during the twice month 'Ole Days ... or as close to that as possible.  That full-house cleaning job is almost always Pete's because the vacuuming is difficult for me even with a mask. 

While Pete vacuumed, I sat in the quonset, at the keys, researching and preparing to write this article.  JOTS has been deeply asleep all day long.  The electricity is back on (after a morning of outage yesterday), the hoses are unfrozen and we have weathered another 'Ole Cycle where our physical stamina bottomed out from it all.  Weather, the painstaking effort of daily vardo tasks, and the effects of managing a relationship while living with MCS ... it's a boatload.

Soon, PART ONE