As they entered the gym today, John was in his ever present ex-baseball coach gear - from creased and aged baseball hat to white practice tennis shoes. Barbara decided to spice it up by selecting her black workout pants with a neon pink stripe to accompany her grey tank top. Her grey-streaked blonde hair was pulled back in her usual pearlized barrette. As she and John worked to complete their usual eXcITE workout, with John completing five reps of every machine in the gym, and she literally running after him from machine to machine, she thought about that conversation three weeks ago.
It seems like so much had happened since the end of March when her daughter had asked her to have to lunch. Her daughter, Rachel, had always been independent. Rachel was in her early 30s. She had placed her career first and although she had dated, Rachel maintained that her career was her first priority. When Rachel had asked her to lunch Barbara figured that it must be related to something at work - perhaps the coveted promotion Rachel had been working on for the past year. Barbara could not have been more off-base.
After the appetizer, Rachel began weaving a story for Barbara. The more the story unfolded, the more Barbara felt as if she was having an out-of-body experience and viewing herself talking to Rachel from somewhere far away. Rachel started by telling her mother that she had always been unhappy with her career. Yes, she made a fantastic living in advertising but Rachel was just not happy doing the work. Then she went on to say she had been investigating wholistic living; she had used her vacation in March to travel to Arizona to stay at a wholistic leaning center. (Barbara had known she went on vacation to Arizona but the location of the trip had no been shared with her - now she knew why). Rachel went on to say she wanted to change her life. As Barbara listened, Rachel detailed farming, canning, communal experiences and a tiny house that Rachel would build for herself. Barbara must confess - her first thought had been "CULT!"
Barbara did give her daughter the benefit of the doubt though and researched the location Rachel mentioned. It did seem reputable. They did not require people to give up worldly possessions, or convert to some doctrine. A week after Rachel told her about her decision Barbara broke the news to John. Their highly successful, six-figure earning daughter wanted to go to Arizona to live on a wholistic farm.
Thinking back, it was a lot to take-in. John had been in shock, and truth be told, still was in shock even today. It was only explanation for his behavior. Hopefully he would become more open to the idea since she was leaving in two days. This was not a reason to strain his relationship with Rachel. She would talk to him again tonight - see if she could make him understand it is about unconditional love.
Hopefully she can convince him to see Rachel off on her journey. She had just two days.
