I thought long what our stay in the second Airbnb “Batman” should be about. Today on a slow Sunday, watching people by the river and after an energizing day on a farm, I read Charles Eisenstein’s Story of Interbeing.
I guess that’s what Batman was all about. Feeling the connection between us and the place. Through nature and culture.
Through being outside with everyday walks.
It took me a while to find my favorite walk: a small path winding along a stream where the wild garlic grows. In the morning the freshness in the air and the many singing birds made the walk a dive into nature. A big beech tree has clear markings all around by an ambitious animal.
Reconnecting with being earth.
„How did you find this?“ we were asked by an elder couple at a very local restaurant. They went here for the past 40 years. „About once every week“, he told me. We ended up here because it was the only one open on Mondays. They finished their dinner and headed back to their BMW and their apartment by the lake. On the way out, they made jokes with Hansi, who owns the place and tries to keep the old house full of local history.
We were seated on a shared round table right in the middle of the small restaurant room. Perfect to watch and be watched.
„I’ve been the director of the local theater“, the woman joining us next at the table told us. „Before I had that accident, 3 years ago, where a car drove over me.” Put into an assistant living and recovery house in Munich, friends from the village organized to get her back home. To give her a chance to relearn everything, but in a known surrounding. „I have to write everything down to memorize all the common knowledge again. Like Eastern.“
It feels like we are suddenly part of this community – and not at the same time.
“Hope to see you again,” Hansi waved at us when we left for our winterly walk back home to Batman.
Reconnecting with people.
We also reconnected with ourselves after we caught Covid – a bat disease at Batman? We stayed separated in our caves, Bridget in the Bavarian village, me in Portugal – but that’s a whole other story.
Is 4 weeks in a new place enough time to build connections? Yes and no.
When I tuned down the noise of digital connection and information overload around me, I felt very connected. Very grounded. Just for a moment.
But isn’t that enough to show ourselves that a different story is possible?
This has definitely been your most philosophical stay! Such grand questions. I would offer that in your level of mindfulness, you always are at home and belong….you are just on a discovery of new connections through your life journey. Within 24 hours of us meeting, our souls were bound i friendship. It doesn’t take presence to know you are loved, and belong…