Nirvana

Is there a place that calls to you from the depths of your soul? Anywhere that just the thought of it brings a measure of calm to your restless mind?  To me that place is Nepal. As our life together was unraveling in our hands, I'd close my eyes, breathe deeply and then be sitting on one of Nepal's overlooks, prayer flags whipping in the wind and overlooking her majestic mountain peaks. Or I'd be kneeling in a temple praying for peace listening to the singing bowls and gongs. It became its own mantra when I'd start to panic over losing him "someday I'll go to Nepal, someday I'll go to Nepal." Almost as a lifeline to the future, that life would contain experiences I'd treasure again. Can I explain it beyond the obvious images we have from the media of the spirituality of the place? No, not anymore than I could explain to my friends and family "Why Seattle?" when I had never before step foot her soil. It's just a calling, a knowing from deep inside. To my weary soul Nepal seemed to be the answer to what I needed most: rest, beauty, prayer, reflection, stillness, calm, simplicity, respite from the modern world, closeness to god, a chance to find peace.

Someday, I'll get to experience her with my own senses. Flags will be whispering my prayers through the wind up to the heavens. And the prayer wheels will be spun in remembrance for the precious souls who have departed from my life. A higher measure of peace will be mine that day.

Till then, I will look to other's images and stories to carry me there.