Reflections

It’s been a minute, hasn’t it?? Or a lot of minutes…

I’ve made lots of excuses these past three (or four?) weeks about why I haven’t posted anything, the latest being that the laptop I had been using, a castoff from my work, was such a behemoth that I loathed dragging it out to use. A truth, but not the entirety of it. That’s possibly for another post though. For now, I’ll catch y’all up on my recent travels and leave it at that.

Which is all good! I made my first solo long-term remote-work trip recently, and, though it did not all go perfectly, I did learn tons and consider it a definite success – enough of one that I am ready to do it again(!), though it may be a few months before I can, due to other obligations. (Bowling league – haha.)

Anyway, during that two week period, in which I traveled from Missouri to the Outer Banks, NC, then to Gulf Shores, AL, and finally over to Big Lagoon State Park in FL, before returning home, the victorious – and exhausted but exhilarated – road warrior. (Hah) Sir had asked me to keep a daily “reflection” to send to him at the end of my adventures. He had explained to me why he wanted me to do so prior to my leaving, but I must have forgotten the core of the assignment, because what I ended up sending him was more of a travelogue, detailing the ins and outs of my days, like I would do here. What he’d really asked for was something brief to remember each day by so that I didn’t end up just going all that way and working, but truly experiencing the trip. He wanted me to remember, to know, to pay attention to, why I was doing this – to experience new places, new environs, new ways of being. I only realized that after I sent it to him though and he’d read it and we talked about it. It ended up sparking some conversation, but – again – did not exactly fit the assignment (not that he said so or criticized it in any way.) It was just my realization. So I thought I would go ahead and do that here, a few days at a time, and share it with y’all as well.

Along with some pictures, nach! 🙂

Days 1 & 2 – Saturday and Sunday
I discovered the beauty and power of Van Morrison – traveling with my “house” right there with me! – and rediscovered my own ability to be flexible, to choose a different path, to wander down the unplanned road. That used to be me, more about the journey than the destination, but recent years I’ve become a little more regimented, less flexible. This day I moved from being disappointed in myself for not being able to do what I *thought* I should have been able to do (drive for 6 or 8 hours straight at night) to a realization that I didn’t *have* to do anything specific (except be in wifi by Monday for work.) I could do what I wanted, however I wanted (or was able.) My schedule and decisions were my own. I could – and did – make changes on the fly, reroute myself and in doing so discovered new places quite by accident. I found a new sense of freedom, felt empowered, in a way that I had not felt recently.

Here are some of the beautiful things I saw, that I would have missed if I hadn’t embraced this newfound freedom.

And here was my original destination, which I still got to, though a day later.

To be continued…