Days 27 to 38

What a journey this has been!! When we left MH's, I felt a need to reconnect with various members of my family that I haven't seen for awhile while I was on my fast. When your car is getting 35 miles to the gallon and you don't eat - you can travel pretty inexpensively.

As I have been going through this fast, I have found that I need less and less juice, so while we were traveling, my husband would juice for me in the morning, put it in a container and that would do me for the day, along with the water I was drinking. It was a challenge, at first, to learn how to drive all day without munchies or caffeine, but I learned that it can be done.

When my mother passed away in 2005, I was able to come home from the Philippines long enough to dress her for burial, write her obituary and plan her funeral - then I had to get back to my dying husband in the Philippines. My mother passed away in Utah, but I had promised her I would bury her next to my father in Missouri, so I gave one of my sons some money and asked him if he would take her back there for me. He did, but I have never had a chance to visit her grave since then, so when we left Ohio, we went to the southeast corner of Missouri where I could visit my parents grave site. We arrived there on February 14th, which would have been their 57th wedding anniversary.

We spent the night in Missouri and then traveled to Fort Smith, Arkansas where we surprised some very dear friends we have not seen in many years. I have known these people since I was a teenager, they were with us when Steve and I were married in 1983 and lived near by while Steve was stationed there flying the F4. They were able to meet Allie and get us caught up on all the news.

We left there and drove to Tulsa, Oklahoma where we surprised my sister who I haven't seen in 4 years. My nieces were so excited that I told them it would be a long time before I would be able to get my hearing back (they were hugging and screaming in my ear at the same time). My sister was so amazed at how great I was looking - she wanted to know all about the orange juice fast. We had a wonderful evening together, spent the night with them and left the next morning.

Monday we drove to Houston, Texas where we surprised our oldest son, his wife and 4 grandchildren. As we began to visit, I realized our timing was perfect because my daughter-in-laws father had just been in a horrible bull-dozer accident. She had just come from the hospital where they were advising the family to pull the 'plug'. I was so blessed to be there to hold her, comfort her and help to walk her through this difficult time in her life. This particular 'coincidence' happened several times on our journey - where the timing was perfect. We spent the night there and left in the morning.

Tuesday we traveled across Texas and into New Mexico. The next morning we traveled to the southern boundary of Arizona to Sierra Vista, where another one of our sons works for the Border Control. We spent the afternoon with him, his wife and 4 more of our grandchildren in Tombstone. She mentioned how nice it was to have grandma and grandpa all to themselves and not have to share with everyone else. We rode in a stage coach, had lunch (except me, of course), and saw the famous OK corral.

After lots of hugs and kisses, we drove to Phoenix, where we spent the evening and night with one of our daughters, her husband and 4 more grandchildren. Again, the timing was perfect as my daughter has been going through several tests for suspitions of breast cancer.

We got a late start on Friday, but were able to make it home around 1:30 in the morning on Saturday. At noon on Saturday we attended the baptism of one of our grandsons with a lunch following where we were reunited with 2 more of our sons, 4 more of our daughters, their spouses and 16 more of our grandchildren. Again, we had a wonderful time together.

After the family gathering, we went back home and within a very short time, I realized I was exhausted. The adrenelin had stopped pumping and I was done! I laid down and slept off and on for the next two days. Monday I got up to get back to work and found that I was pretty weak - I hadn't had anything but water for several days and, of course, hadn't eaten anything for 37 days - my body just was not going to be pushed any further. Steve was pretty concerned and wanted to know what to do, so I asked him to make me some fresh apple juice. Since Thursday makes 40 days, I figured it was time to start getting my digestive system working again. With fresh apple juice and some oranges I feel like I'm starting to get my equilibrium back.

MH and Brenda gave me the greatest gift anyone can bestow on another - TIME. The month I spent in the cabin gave me a chance to get on top of this fast, have some rare time to study again, focus on something beside all of the day to day tasks of home, allow time for Allie to work with the chiropractor and helped me to form a parnership which, hopefully, will help us get back on our feet financially.
I am very grateful to them for everything they have done for us.

I gave you the itinerary of our trip, but did not get into some of the incredible spiritual experiences I was priviledged to have along the way because they are too sacred to post on an open public forum like this, but suffice it to say, I was given several of the answers I have been searching for and was amazed at the depth of understanding the answers came with.

MH said in a post several weeks ago that when you can fast for 40 days you 'know'. He didn't say what you will know - he just said you 'know'. I fully understand what he was saying because I 'know'. This has not been the easiest thing I have ever done and if I was going to advise someone else on the proper way of doing it - I would strongly advise trying to do it when you can be alone as much as possible. When you study the Masters, you will notice they go into the wilderness to fast - I think this is a key component because it gives you a chance to meditate, ponder, seek and receive. Driving across country with a partner and a 4 year-old who are still eating is not the best way to do this.

I'm sorry it has taken so long to get back to everyone and hope this helps explain where we have been. Today is Day 38 and I am beginning to drink a variety of juices to make sure my digestive system is ready to go back to work when Day 40 arrives. I want all of you to know that I have appreciated your support and concern - it certainly helps when you know you are not alone. Hopefully, my journey will benefit someone else and we can continue to learn together, Dr Mom

Tweet