After A Week Long Send Off, My Round the World Trip kicked off with eight days in Maui visiting my sister Sarah who has split her time between Hawaii and Alaska for many years. What an epic way to start this adventure! There was mist falling when my sister greeted me at the Kahului airport on Maui a week ago, so she teased me about bringing the rain from the mainland. We headed straight for Paia where she presented me with a young coconut and a lei, accompanied by the chant for the gifting-of-a-lei.
A number of circumstances collided recently to compel me to move the Lucky Penny to my property in Walla Walla where I have a ground bound small house called Valencia Cottage. So on Tuesday trusted tiny house movers Linh and Stephanie Pham helped me move the Lucky Penny safely from Portland to my place in Walla Walla.
As I packed up recently in preparation to travel cross country in my Honda Fit, I did some downsizing… It was harder than it had been during my last couple of moves because this time I had more stuff. I’d been living in a bigger space…My apartment was a studio, but it was still about 6 times bigger than the Lucky Penny! I talked with several people about the experience and a handful of them said “oh my goodness, I need to do more of that!” So I’ve decided to offer a 6-week Downsizing Tune Up…
When I was little we used to talk about how cool it would be if we could see people while we were talking to them on the phone. Now it’s the future. Most of the things I did this week involved seeing other people while talking to them, but virtually. It occurred to me, part way through the week, as I was popping in and out of zooms and facetimes and hangouts and phone calls and texts that we’re now living in real virtuality!
Like many others here in Portland, OR I’m on Day 7 now of physical distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19. But I realized that this week has actually been incredibly inspirational. In fact, I’ve been so inspired by the people I love doing such amazing things in the face of this adversity, that I started making a list. And I’m going to invite you to join me in the Silver Lining Challenge.
“Strange times,” is a phrase I’ve heard a lot this week. And it feels that way. So I’ve been pondering how to act and react in these strange times since it seems we have a stretch of this ahead of us. I’ve decided that since I am one of the healthy (at least for now) and one of the wealthy (at least by world standards) my approach will be to follow best practices regarding social distancing and to find a balance between connecting with others virtually and embracing some mandatory me time to do a few more indoor projects and savor some solitude and reflection. I chose to act with goodwill and good judgement and to hope that others will do the same.
