Things I want to remember

 Often, I have these little memories of the places I visited in the US and EU. I have the urge to write these things down, to keep them with me.  The little things are everything, aren’t they?

I was driving on A10 towards Paris, headed to CDG. Autumn was starting, occasionally I’d see a tree lit up like an orange flame, leaves in full change. There were vivid red and bright yellow trees too. I thought “how cool is it to experience the leaves changing in FRANCE”.  I enjoyed that little Audi rental car, a fun car to drive. I liked that in France and Greece, drivers understood that the left lane is a passing lane, the right lanes are for travel. Some states up north in the US seem to understand that as well. In California people don’t seem to know this. 

I loved getting the hang of the roundabouts in France. They didn’t have as many in Corfu.  

Driving to Aggelokastro Castle on these tiny, deserted roads in Corfu was such a joy. I sometimes had tears in my eyes - amazed to have the experience, to be driving in Greece, in a foreign country, for the very first time. 

                                                      Hike up to Aggelokastro Castle

                                             Full moon over the mountains in Paros

                                             I could see Parikia and the cliff path from my balcony

                                             Always made a point to watch the sunset 

Walking along the cliff side path in Paros, I passed a fig tree. The smell was so incredible, I could see how those trees inspired many amazing perfumes. Paros was special, but Paxos was my love. 

I think I loved the fact that Paxos was small. I loved that I could take a walk on the coast road, see a pretty little cove to swim in. I’d often have the cove to myself, it was so perfect. The water was so blue. 

                                                       Stunningly blue sea in Paxi

                                             My rental was full of windows, always something I love. 

                                              Swimming cove, my shadow

                     

The view from my place was really magnificent. It was a sweet, quiet little island. I loved that the tourists only visited for a few hours in the day, then left on boats for other islands. I felt like a local. 

Today, I was thinking about Maine, how beautiful it is. It felt wild, old, noble. 

                                              Lovely rocks on Maine coast

                                             Osprey breed on this island every year

                                             Mohegan Island 

                                             Mohegan Island, the trails were great. I can smell this photo

                                             Favorite trail near my airbnb in Maine 

I loved driving in Maine, so much to see and discover. The smell of it was so great. The place I stayed was so absolutely quiet. I love that, feeling like I’m cradled by trees.

East Atlanta Village

I was able to do the entire process of renting an apartment in Atlanta from Florence, Italy. My friend Debbie works in real estate and sent a video of a nice little garage apartment in a highly desirable area of town, East Atlanta Village, aka EAV. Cheap enough to allow me to wander, too. Still, it’s really weird for me to “land”.

I hit the ground running when I got here. Movers scheduled from Italy, all deposits paid via an app, Wi-Fi arranged. Moved all the stuff out of my storage space on November 1st, only to turn around the next day and pay someone to take it all away.

Travel changed the way I view “stuff” - and how much I want to have fewer things. When you travel, you basically have only whatever your brought with you and I got used to that. There were times that my small rolling suitcase and backpack felt like too much. When I started to unpack all the things I brought with me from California, panic set in. In this very small apartment I saw myself maniacally moving things from one place to another, it was impossible to find a place for all the STUFF. I guess you could say I had a bit of a meltdown. 

What became abundantly clear to me was the state of mind I was in when I packed my house up in Los Angeles. I could see that I didn’t trust the abundance of life. The things that I thought I needed or that meant something to me now just seemed like useless junk. I was clinging to my California life via piles of things - and it’s not the way I want to live. 

I wanted to become untethered from things. When I first started this blog, that was my goal. I asked myself with each item “what is the purpose of this?”. Things without purpose for me went into the pile and the next day, I paid to make the pile go away. I felt the guilt of filling the landfills, hoped that someone could find use for some of the items, and vowed to learn from this mistake. I could hear my mom and my dad in my head saying “don’t let these things weigh you down”. I think this hardcore purging is called Swedish Death Cleaning. The last thing I want when I leave this world is to burden my loved ones with my possessions.

In looking over the pile, I could see how so many of the things I kept were because other people expected me to. Even if it wasn’t my taste. I won’t live like this anymore. I will learn the art of gracefully saying “no, thank you” when well-wishers try to give me things. 

I don’t want WEIGHT. Friends were saying things like “you should get a cat” and I think of pets as weight. I love animals but prefer to enjoy my friend’s pets. I feel a similar way about children.