The movement towards departure is palpable now. Dan is about to cease his paid employment. I hesitated as I wrote that sentence as he never stops “work”! Our activities now are mostly centered on preparing to move on to Gypsy. Dan’s house is nearly empty and the sifting continues at my house. An interesting perspective comes over you as you decide how little you need any specific object; you then decide no one needs it!Today Dan and I went in search of a pack for me. (Mine seems to have made its way to Seattle with my daughter) How much will I need to carry; how much do I want to spend? Even into my adulthood I have primarily carried either a duffle or a backpack for travel. The ease of carrying my cargo on my back has always been natural for me. I won’t be wearing heals and anything fu-fu when I travel (or otherwise for that matter!_ We found a comfortable large load pack that was last year’s model that suits me just fine. The salesman questioned if we had an upcoming trip planned and he seemed a little excited for us with my response. As we left the store I realized that I am soo excited! I feel like a kid who got a new pair of school shoes. I want to pack up my clothes and set out! I wore the pack around the house for part of the afternoon. Dan thought I had lost it!
As we walked out into the parking lot at Lowe’s store where we had been looking for fence posts to repair my toppled fence, it was only 10 a m and Dan commented that we are now among the “retired”!My daughter Chelsea has been traveling and is currently in Seattle WA. We had a great catch up conversation last night and she’s ecstatic about the community she’s living in. She is eager to find work so she can fully settle in. She has been a free spirit, traveling about in Central America and most recently she was drawn to the Pacific Northwest. Her descriptions of the people she has met inspire me to be bold and inventive with new ways to live, in union, within our planet. She told me about a couple she met on an island who, prior to living there, lived on their sailboat for 15 years. She helped them harvest seaweed which was used as chutney and also to fertilize the organic garden. Some of my preparation for our journey looks to modify and adjust current ways of doing things. I intend to challenge myself with seaweed soup, perhaps…
