Fahma's Mahket

Even though I left Maine more than a month ago, I haven't left the accent behind. It's just too fun.

The munchkin and I have been hanging out in St. Augustine, Florida, for the past five or so weeks, soaking up the sun and sweating from the heat and humidity. Something seems very wrong about saying TTFN to Maine just before its warmest and sunniest season, especially after such a looong, cold winter -- not to mention heading so far south during said season. 

Alas, it's the way of things, and I'm quite happy spending time with family and exploring new frontiers. That part of the next-steps plan is right on track. And I anticipate more of an ability to follow the weather (milder temps in the winter months, typically colder climate areas in the spring, summer and fall) once the RV happens.

I had thought I'd get out and explore the grounds of St. Augustine's lighthouse today, but I found that there was a fee to do so, which I didn't realize, and there were a whole lot of people there given that it's a Saturday, which I figured might be the case. So, I'll head there during the week when I can look around without so many peeps doing the same thing.   

I did stop by the fahma's mahket, though, and found some neat wares and even neater vendors. I got some lovely organic lavender soap and other things from Bubbles (yes, that's her name), and Robin of Miss Robin's Jewelry made me a simple yet beautiful necklace after the pendant caught me in its snare and wouldn't let go.

Local honey, anyone?

Thankfully, the trees provided
a good bit of shade

Beautiful pendant and necklace
from Miss Robin

The combination of things in the pendant felt very powerful -- the stone, the metal cage work and the owl sitting right on top. I looked up owl totems, and the message was right on for what's happening right now. It's all about listening to the intuition, seeing what's hidden, experiencing a significant change, etc.

Right on indeed.

--

P.S. TTFN = popular Tigger expression = ta ta for now :)

Momentum

While I was taking part in the A to Z Blog Challenge in April, I felt the momentum build -- the habit of writing every day but Sunday, even when I didn't feel like it. The don't-wanna days were really few and far between, though. For the most part, I looked forward to writing a blog post a day.

Since then, I have really missed both the writing and the momentum that had built up. Thankfully, it feels like it hasn't been lost altogether. It's still there, just waiting to be recognized.

So, I'm stepping back into the flow, which will translate into more frequent posts here. I'm realizing that writing daily is one of the good habits I developed during the challenge, and I can just pick it up again without struggle or effort.

On to the next habit-builder ...

Road Angels

In reading the blogs of both full- and part-time RVers for several years now, I've come across various stories about folks who have been downright helpful out on the road -- fixing things that break in motorhomes and trailers, pulling stuck vehicles and rigs out mud and sand, providing a hand after a breakdown, putting the word out about and assisting in finding a beloved lost dog, sending gifts to help furnish a needed new home for someone coming off the road, and much more.

I've come to think of such folks as road angels, and I met some a few weeks back.

I was unexpectedly traveling at night, quite worn out and only about halfway to my destination. All of a sudden, I felt and heard a bang and knew that a tire had blown out. I pulled across a couple travel lanes to the side of the highway and stopped right behind another vehicle that was doing the same thing. Neither the folks in the other vehicle nor I had any idea what we had hit -- we saw nothing before impact and could not find anything in the roadway that would explain it -- but the force of the dual strike was enough to start one of the other vehicle's tires toward going flat and outright blow one of mine.

I have AAA, but the prospect of sitting on the narrow shoulder on the side of the highway and waiting for however long wasn't a pleasant one. I also had a fully loaded car, so to get to the spare tire in my trunk I would have to unload its contents in the breakdown lane with big rigs roaring past.

The folks in the other vehicle were angels indeed, because the driver went ahead and changed my tire on that busy highway. He made quick work of it, and within 10 minutes or so we were all on our way again.

I wasn't going far, though. The spare tire I had was only a donut, so my destination for the night turned out to be much closer than expected. I drove slowly toward the next exit, hoping that wherever I was, I was in a decent area and I'd be able to find a safe spot for the night.

I was, and I did, and the next day I got a new tire and was on my way again. 

I'm grateful for all the angels that were present that night, and I'm glad to be able to add yet another story about the helpfulness of nice folks in the world to an already long list of them.

Kindness

I am blown away. I am humbled. And I am full of gratitude.

When touched by true kindness -- where there is simply straightforward caring and generosity of spirit, offered freely one to another, with no traces of the human tendencies toward score keeping, twisted misperception, inaccurate assigning of meaning and intention, and the like -- something shifts inside. Irrevocably. 

The experience of it reminds me of what it feels like to look into another's eyes and to see and feel compassion reflected in them. 

So full. So meaningful.

I have been the recipient of significant doses of kindness lately. Am in the middle of one right now, in fact. It's penetrating internal walls and moving through, soothing and healing.

Kindness is powerful indeed. A series of challenging circumstances recently left me feeling so off-center that it was hard to find my way back. But within mere seconds, focused thought about one of the aforementioned doses of kindness brought me back to myself. To my Self.

The only words that are relevant to say in response seem inadequate to some parts of me, yet other parts know how rich they are. 

Thank you.

In With the New

I've really gone and done it now.

After years of visualizing and dreaming, months of planning and work, and a final week-plus of an all-out, utterly exhausting push to get 'er done, I have released the bulk of my possessions and hit the road.

Other than what I put in the car to take with me, this is what remains.

Done!

There's more in the storage unit than I hoped there would be (though a neatly packed 5x10 space with a good bit of room to spare is not bad!). I simply ran out of time to continue sorting, selling and releasing in the detailed way I prefer to work. So, toward the end, I just filled boxes and put them into storage. In the spirit of progress rather than perfection, I opted to be proud of the efforts I had made to clear things out and know that there will be another round of releasing at some point in the future.

For now, I feel quite free. And very happy. And full of potential and possibilities.

During one pit stop relatively early on during my departure drive, I did have a moment where I thought, What have I done? I've given up my home and relegated myself to a life of rest stop bathrooms!

Well, I went on to think, that will be remedied when I get my RV.

As it will be. In the meantime, I am off visiting with family and friends, currently in my old stomping grounds in the Southeast. 

Hallelujah!

From the Front Line

Came across this in the sorting and moving process just now:

Thoughts on this to come. For now, it's back to the front line. ;)

Waves of Freedom

A funny thing happens every time I release stuff, whether it's a carload of it that goes to a charitable organization or a cartful of boxes that goes into the storage unit.

I feel a little bit freer. I wake up more excited and joyful. And the lifestyle I have been desiring to lead is so much closer that it's palpable.

The cleaning-out process is challenging in some ways, of course, but it gets easier as the deadline approaches. I'm going to walk out the door in two days and have everything done except for the furniture that a charitable organization will pick up on Monday. That thought helps make it all so much clearer. Do I really need this or that, or to put it in storage to just be dealt with later -- or can I just release it now? Even things that I wouldn't have considered giving away a week ago are now on the chopping block. I keep thinking, I want to live in an RV. I can't take this with me there, and if I can live without it for a time, can I live without it for good? The joy of being unencumbered feels so much better than having that thing does. I can recall it anytime I want to in memory, anyway.

Such freedom. Those who have gone before me in this process and are enjoying their lives on the road know exactly what I mean. And it comes in waves. Just as I have to go through an area of my living space three, four or five times to get things sorted, packed and ready to move on out, so does the sense of freedom come in waves. It washes over me like a much needed balm to the soul.

So, two days to go. Pictures to come. 

Zee End!

That was the title of my last post for this past year's A to Z challenge (written at the end of -- ahem -- October), and methinks it will become an annual tradition.

It just seems fitting.

This year's challenge didn't feel so much like a challenge, at least not in the struggle and effort sense. Overall it went by smoothly, peacefully, effortlessly and harmoniously. I enjoyed pondering posts, waiting for a word to pop to mind associated with the day's letter and, much like my other writing, listening and watching within for the path the ideas and words would take as they formed themselves. At that point, my job is simply (or not so simply, depending on the project) to help the process along as scribe, midwife, editor and watcher of wonder.

I've also enjoyed the daily habit of writing at least something and look forward to continuing it with this blog. As I've heard other writers say, the act of engaging in one form of writing provides inspiration for other works. So, as I've been blogging, the many books that have been dancing around in my head for quite some time have indeed started forming themselves more substantively and pushing with the urgency to be expressed. It's like a faucet that, once opened, enables a steady flow to come forth from the wellspring.

All that said, I'm very happy to share this:

Thanks so much for following along during the past month, and for your supportive comments. I look forward to engaging with you for a long time to come. :)

Yodeling

If I were a yodeler, I'd definitely be doing it right now. Tomorrow is the last day of the A to Z blog challenge, and it's wonderful to have it be almost complete. It also feels rather unreal that it's been nearly a month since we started.

The cleaning out progress also makes me rather feel like yodeling. Lots still to accomplish, but I moved my plan to vacate out a week. That helps. A lot.

What makes you feel like yodeling? :)

Xanadu

I don't know if you've checked the dictionary lately, but the number of words that start with the letter X are quite limited. Xanadu is the only one that kept coming to mind for today's post. And by that I mean this part of Merriam-Webster's definition: "an idyllic, exotic, or luxurious place."

Right now, my Xanadu is in a silver Airstream Interstate parked in a glorious wood -- which, of course, the munchkin and I arrived at by taking a road less traveled by.

The literature references were quite unexpected. :)

What and where is your Xanadu?

Glorious Days

My new favorite word seems to be glorious. 

It's been my go-to adjective to describe the beautiful sunny weather we are having more frequently.

It's been an apt way to express the wonderfully free-feeling days I've been experiencing of late. 

It's been the thought that runs through my mind as my car now shifts normally after seeming like it was having significant transmission issues.

It's what popped out my mouth with a breathy quality when asked about how my massage was with the new therapist at my chiropractor's office.

And more. So much to be grateful for and appreciative of. Mucho, mucho.

What's glorious in your world?

Wild and Wooly Saturday

Not really. It's actually been a rather quiet and restful day. But I felt like adding a bit of irony to the blog, and I figured a little alliteration can make almost any title more interesting.

After having such a productive day yesterday -- getting a quite long list of things done -- I needed to recoup today. A mama reminder that I did enough work yesterday for two days, so a rest was probably in order, was true and timely.

So, I'm winding down here, looking forward to tomorrow, and mentally plotting my next steps in the packing and moving process. With each box packed, and each carload taken to the storage unit, I feel freer and freer. Simply amazing.

How's your weekend going?

Very Productive Day

Things are moving along here. Got several items checked off my to-do list, and got the stuff-into-storage process under way today. (Does that usage of "under way" sound familiar?) ;)

Productivity feels good, particularly when it's helping move me toward a long-desired goal. 

What kind of productivity are you happy to have under your belt on this beautiful Friday?

Under Way

I've been having a rather funny conversation today with my very-like-me mama about being a fussbudget. She has her own versions of that, and I have mine. Not surprisingly, there's some overlap. 

The fussbudget quality often expresses itself when I'm editing, or reading something. I love the nuances of word usage -- and I love it even more when words are used correctly. For example, did you know that "under way" is almost always two words? True dat. As the AP Stylebook explains, it's one word when it appears before a noun and it's acting as an adjective relating to things nautical: An underway boat.

So there you have it -- my editing tip for the day, and a description for the state of the moving process in these here parts.

What's under way in your world today?

Totally Stoked

The excitement is building. The more that gets done, the freer I feel and the closer the goal seems. 

One week. Totally stoked is a good way to describe it. :)

How's your week going so far?

Still Moving

With eight days left to go, my mantra has become Don't think. Just do. 

Off to do. Enjoy your day!

Renewal

Somewhat surprisingly, I went to church yesterday. I haven't been in quite a while, partly because it's been a number of years since I've felt like I've had a real church home. 

Sitting my butt on a cushy, padded pew in a beautiful old church listening to a masterful message, it definitely felt like I had come home. 

The sense of renewal today is palpable, no doubt from that experience as well as the continued progress with packing boxes, keeping moving and clearing things out. With nine days left until vacate day, there's still a tremendous amount to do. The overwhelm threatens to do its thing moment to moment, but it's kept at bay by putting one foot in front of the other. 

Again and again. :)

How is the start to your week going?

Quotient

No boxes got packed today, but after a few loads of laundry, many hours of cleaning and some grocery shopping, I've reached my work quotient for the day. Tomorrow will be a significant packing and preparing-items-for-Goodwill day. 

Those will be new Easter activities for me. If you celebrate Easter, how are you planning to spend it?

Progress, Not Perfection

A friend calls herself a recovering perfectionist. I suppose I could consider myself one, too, though I did make the switch in my mind some years ago to striving for excellence rather than perfection. At the time, I'd come to see that the latter is a prescription for stress, exhaustion and general unhappiness, while the former maintains a high standard but allows for much more sanity in daily life. But old habits do occasionally die hard, and it's no secret that we women are harder on ourselves than anyone else could be.

These days, I find tremendous freedom and self-gentleness in continually refocusing my attention on the amount of progress I've made toward something, rather than how much still needs to be done -- or how I could have done it (whatever it is) better.

Progress. It's a wonderful thing. :) 

Opining

Out of the three options that came to mind for O posts today, this was the first. In the spirit of initial instincts, I'm going with expressing opinions.

There's a common expression about opinions and how everyone has one and all that. (If you're familiar with it, you know what I'm talking about. If you're not, I'm not gonna repeat it.) :)

When it comes right down to it, I tend toward believing that the expression actually expresses a good bit of wisdom. I'll put it a little more diplomatically with a brief story.

Last year a friend was sharing about a challenging situation in her life. It involved the kind of decision that would be impactful -- life-changing, even -- not only for her, but also for her loved ones. I listened and, I feel, more importantly, I refrained from offering an opinion, even when she asked what I thought. My response was, "It doesn't matter what I think." 

It really didn't matter. Such an important decision could only be her own. Furthermore, what did matter in that moment was that I was willing to be present, to listen and to love her as she engaged in such a weighty process. 

I find myself offering an opinion to folks every once in a while, particularly when I'm tired or when my usual filters are down. Ordinarily I try very hard not to do that, and instead to listen and ask relevant questions that may help provide clarity or insight during a decision-making process. In my experience, it's amazing to see how very powerful the acts of being present, listening and asking questions are, and what little value the act of expressing an opinion really has.