Packing hopes and dreams

This time last year, I was getting ready for a similar journey.  Packing up my house.  My life and going to a new place.  The experience of new adventures.  And OH the list.  The list of things that HAD to be done:

Clean the house
Get rid of stuff we never use
Donate
Store the "important stuff" in a "safe" place

I'm doing the same thing, AGAIN.  To the same place - well, not exactly, going to live NEXT DOOR.  How do I explain this?  "Neighbor Joe" - I'm living in his house.  Technically, that would now make me the neighbor to my "other house".  These are confusing times.

Are things ever the same NEXT time?  Of course not.  Time.  Perception. Wisdom.  Those things have all changed.  Actually, I guess, things are the same, it's US (people) whom change.  Hopefully.

My oldest son and I were talking about our upcoming adventure.  He says "I can't wait to......"  and mentioned several things we did last summer.  He made it very clear he wanted nothing to do with anything for the "tourist".  Everything he wanted to do - those were the "moments" that made the trip. We then spoke about how things might be different this year.  He says to me "Mom, I really don't like your attitude".  Yes, that made me smile too......

Life is made up of "moments".  When we look back, we remember those moments.  Then the stories blur.  The moments stick out.  THEN, that becomes the story.  In reality, it was one afternoon.  What starts as a "chapter" of your book, 30 years later, has moved from a chapter, to a page, to a paragraph, to a sentence, to a footnote.  Or a moment.  Full circle.

Here I am, packing.  Cleaning.  Creating my list of all the things I'm doing this summer.  Same time, next year.  Only THIS year, I'm going to........

I'm going to get back on that board.
I have no activity plans
I'm running a half marathon with my youngest son
I'm packing a pair of running shoes and a pair of flip flops (those I bought last year in Kona) and the shoes I wear on the plane.
Two swim suits - okay, I'm lying, three.
We are eating poke every day.
Be tired of avocados
Not worry about my list of - wait, make that any list of, well, anything.

Because, I learned this lesson already.  You can plan it.  You can not plan it.  You can be disappointed.  You can end up somewhere that wasn't on the list.  You can pack high heels, dresses, hopes, dreams and lots of other stuff in that suitcase.  And we all know, maybe it would be better to leave that suitcase at baggage claim.

And, by the way, that "important stuff" you put in a "safe" place - you might as well have dropped that at baggage claim too.  You already have the "important stuff" with you.  You knew that......