The Simple Life

Today was my department's "Day of Caring" when we all wear matching t-shirts and descend onto some institution to pitch in and help out.  This year the lucky place was a farm in New Jersey where we would be planting trees and shrubs.  Months of preparation had gone into this day evidenced by the onslaught of about 500 emails in my inbox as well as the Outlook calendar entries in case it was not clear from all the emails, where and when we were supposed to show up.  Four of us - Frenchie, OCD, Bubbles and me - headed out from New York, meeting at Penn Station at 7:20 am to catch the 7:36 train, arriving at 7:53 to Newark Penn Station where we needed to catch the 7:59 train to Somerville, where our admin assistants would be waiting to pick us up.  I must interject here to introduce my coworker Bubbles, who is nicknamed so since she effervesces with energy, can chatter a mile a minute, has her whole week booked up with every activity and social event you can imagine all coordinated on her attached-at-the-hand Blackberry, and still has time to show up at work with photo-ready hair and makeup.  I am older than Bubbles, but I don't think I've ever had this kind of energy.  Perhaps Bubbles could benefit from a valium so she can see how the rest of us live.

Anyways, as per usual with NJ Transit, there were technical issues (a freaking door would not shut!) and we were held up thereby we would definitely miss our connection in Newark.  We sat on the train in our tree planting clothes which consisted of our oversized, bright blue t-shirts provided by work paired with (in true NYC form) - Lululemon pants and designer handbags.  Bubbles, the most stylish of us wore her t-shirt with tights, Ray Ban Wayfarers, a large Alexander McQueen handbag and Marc Jacobs rain boots.  Frenchie and me were wearing worn-out running shoes on our feet that we were planning on tossing if the conditions were muddy and when we asked OCD if she planned to do the same she replied matter-of-factly "I just washed these!  I do not own throwaway shoes!"  Then the following conversation ensued:

OCD: "I'm not going in the mud."

Frenchie: "Ohhh oookay."

Bubbles: "Are we going to get to pet ANIMALS?"
(she shrieked excitedly while briefly looking up from her Blackberry)

OCD: "I'm not touching animals."

We missed our connection and hunkered down in the train station McDonald's to wait for the next train to Somerville at 9:06.  OCD and Frenchie ate Egg McMuffins (OCD's sans cheese) while me and Bubbles nursed coffees. I stared enviously at the food, wishing I had not wolfed down my peanut butter Cliff bar earlier.  The next train ride seemed to take FOREVER which elicited an uncharacteristic "Holy f**king hell is this far!" from me.  The 20 minutes stopped on the tracks in the middle of nowhere did nothing to help my mood and once we had arrived at the train station we all realized that this journey had taken us over three hours!  We then proceeded to get lost, with a GPS, on our way to the actual farm.

(we made it!)

(lost in NJ!)

We arrived to meet the rest of our coworkers who had been busy planting for the last two hours and one of them yelled out "Hey you come to work the afternoon shift?"  Little by little our group of bean counters placed the saplings into pre-dug holes, happy to be out in the sunshine rather than basking in the glow of our laptops.  In the end we planted over 4,700 trees and shrubs, which according to the organizers was some kind of record!  We got back on the train and me, OCD and Frenchie passed out, occasionally awoken by Bubbles, wide awake, on her phone.

(get me home!)

I finished my day meeting Stamps for an hour and a half yoga class with our favorite spacey yoga instructor who likes to say things like "Feel your eyes recede from the skins of your eyelids." and "Feel your pores broaden."  Spacey was in an a** kicking mood tonight and I left centered but a sweaty mess.

This whole day has brought me closer to the earth in both body and spirit - but mostly I just feel sore....

Note:  There are no pictures of the actual tree planting since I had to sign a waiver that I would not sue the farm in case of injury, death or dismemberment and could only take pictures for personal use - to be safe, I ditched my Blackberry in the trunk of a car.