Stability: the state of being stable; steadiness; fixity; the power of recovering equilibrium. (Chambers dictionary)
Hmmmmm. Well, having over-run my own 7 year cycle by two years, the pull of change has won out with life and me happily conspiring to enable this new phase to begin TOMORROW! Means, motive and opportunity are all lined up so its time for the execution.
My life in a set of matching luggage!
Parting is such sweet sorrow ~ William Shakespeare
This has been a week of partings and sweet sorrows, of things given up, given away, and simply passed on. Even now I am not quite at my goal in terms of possessions; I am down to 3 suitcases and my laptop bag to go, and 1 bag, 1 small suitcase, 1 box (stuff for India next year) and 1 attaché case of papers.
My intention is to be like a snail and to reduce further until everything fits into a medium sized backpack (already purchased and in one of the suitcases!)
But back to the sweet sorrow ~ I think I can pretty safely say that my main "loss" will be in the immediacy of friends ~ when I went on my adventure to India in 1995 communication was via a monthly round robin newsletter and letters which took 10 days in each direction ~ today, that sorrow is sweetened thanks to MSN messenger, Yahoo, Google Blogger, SKYPE and a whole host of other means to keep in touch and I am sure a communication protocol will emerge! My weekly post on the blog for starters.
It has been gratifying in that those people who might have protested the most at my departure have through love been my most stalwart supporters which is, I am sure, what George Elliot was thinking when writing "Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love."
I hate the winter and am sure to some extent I suffer from SAD, the start of chill winds, dark evenings, and the fact thatI suddenly become aware of the metal in my leg all makes the thought of a year round temperate climate too good to miss!
And on the subject of miss-ing.....
"What will you miss?" is a question I have been asked loads and off course surprisingly difficult to answer. I could say Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding [Martin and Jean have ensured that I go away with the taste of fine Herefordshire fore rib], a decent pint, making bread, sitting n the garden, duetting with Barrie, walk round the reservoir with Martin, trips to Hereford, time with friends, radio 4, radio 3 ........ all a bit clichéd. But all to be enjoyed again intensely on my annual furlough. However, the plain truth is nearer to the fact that all these things will simply be replaced by other equally wonderful sensations and experiences. Which will be revealed to you, dear reader, through this blog!
In reality it is very hard to miss things these days as technology is there to fill the gap one way or another ~ the downside of that is it is also hard too create the space to really see and really experience both outwardly and inwardly. These next two quotes are permenently on my blog as a reminder of what I am about:
"We travel initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again - to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more." Pico Iyer - Why we travel
"Often I feel I go to some different region of the world to be reminded of who I really am. . . Stripped of your ordinary surroundings, your friends, your daily routines, your refrigerator full of food, your closet full of clothes, you are forced into direct experience. Such direct experience inevitably makes you aware of who it is that is having the experience. That's not always comfortable, but it's always invigorating." Michael Crichton - Travels
In reality it is very hard to miss things these days as technology is there to fill the gap one way or another ~ the downside of that is it is also hard too create the space to really see and really experience both outwardly and inwardly. These next two quotes are permenently on my blog as a reminder of what I am about:
"We travel initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again - to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more." Pico Iyer - Why we travel
"Often I feel I go to some different region of the world to be reminded of who I really am. . . Stripped of your ordinary surroundings, your friends, your daily routines, your refrigerator full of food, your closet full of clothes, you are forced into direct experience. Such direct experience inevitably makes you aware of who it is that is having the experience. That's not always comfortable, but it's always invigorating." Michael Crichton - Travels
Antigua at dawn sans tourists!
Back to stability, one of the definitions given is the power of recovering equilibrium well for me, it is the very act of change that restores (albeit temporarily) my sense of equilibrium or rather self, as I wrote last time I feel that I am on a continuum and this is my stability.
However, what I do know, is that my two years in the desert of "uselessness" are to be replaced by the simple acts of sharing, living, loving, learning and growing, through, the power of the unexpected!
Ok, ok, here something more empathetic!
Now where did I put my tickets ......?
Hasta proxima Domingo! (Until next Sunday!)
P.S. ~A big thank you to my Angels (grand y medio) and this week's super heros Shaun and Rebecca who are now the PROUD guardians of Mr. Moggs and Dame Kiti - that cloud had the most silver lining!
No comments:
Post a Comment