NOW

September 26, 2024

Hello, again, dear Reader! It's been a minute since my last post and I've been busy. Almost four weeks ago I left the northeast (Boston) and made my drive from the east coast to the west coast for the tenth year in a row. Yup, in September of 2014 I decided to pack up my car and head out with my eventual destination being the Pacific Northwest. I was tired of short, frenzied visits with my daughter. I wanted longer, quality time with her. I also wanted to see more of these United States and visit some friends along the way. I got more than I bargained for and I've continued to make my coast-to-coast journey every year since then.

In order to rearrange my life and make these trips I had to do a few things:

I took an early retirement package from the hospital where I'd worked as an RN for 15 years
I gave up my apartment and most of my furniture and other belongings
I figured out what was "essential" and how to pack most of my life into my car
I already had the 'perfect" car for me at that time -- a KIA Soul and I actually traded it in and bought another one four years later. The second Soul has served me well for many reasons.
For the first few years I used a "TripTik" from AAA. Back then, (in the dark ages of technology), I would go in to a AAA office and request the best route and also one or two alternate routes between Point A and Point B. I would include stops where my friends lived to be incorporated into the directions. Within a week AAA would have me come in and pick up my maps and State Guide books. I still have some of the maps and fortunately my smart phone has taken over most of my navigation.

There are many other details that went into the making of my new life-style. My way of living is constantly evolving and I'm pretty happy with that. Often when I'm doing my drives I'll post on social media. I'm still getting the hang of that -- after all, I am a Boomer. If you go to my FB page or Instagram you can find some of my pics and videos. I'm also in the process of creating a Cross Country page on my website with tons of photos.

Whenever I think to put something online about my travels I'm always surprised at how much of a positive response I get. While some of you might be drawn to the idea of driving around this big country and through various states like I do, I think it's more about what it represents ... FREEDOM. People will often say to me, "I would like to do what you do and drive all the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back.", or, "I'd like to have purple hair like you". My response is always, "Go for it!", but is that what they or you really want? Do you want to drive for 13 hours some days, getting up at 5am, driving around "bad" weather, making sure you know where the next gas station/rest stop is? Do you want people commenting on your purple hair with sparkling Faerie Threads? Do you want to live a more gypsy-style of life, staying in rentals and Airbnb's? Maybe you do want exactly that, but I doubt it and my guess is that you want to feel more free.

That leads to a very important next question: What do you really want? What would you like to feel free to do or be? What is your purple hair, your long, discovery drive, your transitory housing situation? I've renamed whatever I'm moved to write lately NOW. As I've said before, with my background in mindfulness and meditation, NOW is all we really have -- this moment in time, this breath, this awareness. Even I have needed the reminder to ask and get in touch with what I really want now. I invite and encourage you to open up your imagination and sit with whatever it is that you want. What would you really like the freedom to do or have? Have some fun with it and the next time I write and post, (in a week or so) let's play around with what to do with your desires. I'm looking forward to it.