Groovy, man.

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Vietnam Prisoner of War Bracelet.

This has been circulating on the Interwebs lately:

http://www.thehealthguidelines.com/sandraeallen/29-signs-you-were-raised-by-hippies

I had to laugh as I mentally checked off each item, sure that my kids would see their childhoods in the list. At some point, I’ll have to apologize for the warm garlic oil in their ears (and other hideous home remedies). Other tell-tale hippieisms from my life…

• I snuck tofu—crumbled, breaded & deep-fried, sautéed, sliced & marinated—into everything I fed my kids.
• I still have—and am using—the same bottle of patchouli I bought from the food co-op in 1978.
• In the 1970’s, I selected my piano teacher, Stanley Capps, not because he was a brilliant teacher, composer, and performer (which he was), but because he had a pyramid hanging over his piano. When he died, his wife gave me one of his small collections: about 100 tiny, solid wood pyramids, and a larger hollow pyramid under which I kept drinking water for 24 hours before putting it in the fridge.
• I wore bellbottoms (some with awesome paisley inserts sewn in the legs) the FIRST time around.
• I still have my record albums. I have ticket stubs in my scrapbook to Yes & Moody Blues (saw both many times), It’s a Beautiful Day, Allman Brothers, Al Stewart, Grand Funk, Jethro Tull, Grateful Dead and other concerts. Some of these, I actually remember going to.
• I have several pictures of my toddler children naked, naked wearing capes only, or in bib overalls and gypsy bandanas, which I’m saving for blackmail purposes.
• My canisters are blue antique Ball canning jars. That I once canned in.
• I know what bulgher is and how to use it.
• My children used correct anatomical terms for body parts. No “pee pee,” “ding-dong,” or “girl bits” in our house. To the chagrin of a few other parents, my kids taught the correct terms to their playmates.
• My senior project for Sister Mary Andrew’s art class was a ceramic bong, which she put in the hallway trophy case with a sign that said, “Bud Vase.”
• I have been in protest marches and yes, I have chained myself to a fence.
• I keep a tube of henna paste in my fridge in case of sudden inspiration.
• I teach dream-journaling & poetry workshops at events called “Celebrate Yourself.”
• My home’s ambiance is “health food store.”
• I played in a band while I was pregnant with my youngest child, an electric guitar humming against my belly. Once my son was born, I took him to band practice and put him in a crib in the practice room. As soon as the band started playing, he’d fall asleep.
• I’m still boycotting Nestle.
• For a couple years, I wore a Vietnam War POW bracelet every day. These were each engraved with the name of a missing soldier. I wore it until the soldier’s name showed up in one of the published lists of deaths. Then I took the bracelet off, taped his death announcement inside it, and put it in my jewelry box, where it’s been ever since.
• I still make my own granola.
• My cousin once gave me “love beads” from Haight-Ashbury.
• I sometimes play “House at Pooh Corner” or “Needle and the Damage Done” on my guitar when no one’s around.
• I have a copy of Timothy Leary’s Info-Psychology that he signed when I met him in Vegas.
• In my cedar chest, I’ve saved broomstick skirts, two of my original tie-dyed t-shirts, a few embroidered denim work shirts, a crocheted halter top, a fringed leather jacket, and my first pair of Birkies, bought in Lincoln, NE in 1975, for a whopping $30.
• I have a home altar that includes a tzedakah, Ganesh, Mary, Buddha, Bastet, a Day of the Dead nicho, Jesus, sage, blessed padukas, and a white buffalo. I have a copper Feng Shui plate in the northeast corner of my house. One of my favorite books of all time is Occult Anatomy and the Bible. I have copies of the sacred texts of all major world religions, which I read. I keep dream journals. I want to mow a labyrinth in my pasture and put a tipi in the middle.
• Houseplants (I still have macramé hangers) are the main motif in my home décor, which I like to call “museum archive nature chic.”
• My first car was a VW bug with maple leaves airbrushed on the front trunk lid (the engine was in the back).
• Where most people keep salt, pepper, and sugar, I keep nutritional yeast, kelp granules, cayenne and raw honey.
• I’m in my 50’s, and I wear white after Labor Day if I want to. I still wear my hair in pigtails sometimes.
• My kids drank raw, unpasteurized cow’s milk, had peanut butter and raw honey before they were two, went barefoot most of their young lives, got dirty and didn’t bathe daily, sometimes slept wherever they happened to drop, ran around hippie farmyard parties in small, unattended packs, and survived. Miraculously, they’ve all grown into intelligent, gentle, compassionate, talented human beings. Seriously, who could hope for more than that?

As Jerry said, “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” And is. And will be. And for me at least, that’s just groovy, man.

SHA! (Spontaneous Henna Adornment)

1976 road trip to Taos, New Mexico. I still have this geetar.

This is how I got pregnant at 21.