Tonight I am so tired I can barely write. Today I rode the first 710 miles with my brother and my dog from my former home in Pinole, California toward the East and Maryland where I will take up residence in a few days. Last night, I posted this blog from my phone somewhere around 3:30 a.m. I woke this morning at 6:30 a.m. and commenced to packing the car and getting the last few items out of my condo. It was an odd, bittersweet feeling as I closed the door to the place.
Tears of gratitude and a sense of loss filled my eyes. This place was a safe place for me to heal from the traumas of 2011. I never really settled in to the place; I guess I spent a number of months in some disbelief at what had happened to me. Perhaps I thought my partner would invite me back, or my old job would realize their mistake, or that this was some nightmare from which I would awaken. The walls of the condo absorbed my cries, echoed the strains of music as I played my guitar and sang myself happy, reflected the healing that was taking place as I first began writing this blog. It saw my son through his own series of challenges, and witnessed the challenges and triumphs that my daughter faced during the past year. The moon rising over the trees in the back parking lot, the antics of the rafter of wild turkeys who roamed the neighborhood, the raucous shrieking of the previously unknown dark headed junco who woke me many mornings before I learned how to drown out the racket with the white noise of the fan–these are gifts I will treasure from my time in the condo on Tesoro Court.
There is much I hope to write over the next few days, but will save that for later. Tomorrow we haul over 800 miles on what will be the longest leg of our journey. My brother did all 12 hours of the drive today. Tomorrow I will share the load of driving as it promises to be a much longer day. I am deeply grateful to him for his help in getting me most of the way across the country. More about him and his generosity later on. Tonight we rest, tomorrow we wake at 5:3o and prepare to hit the road. “The night heralds the dawn. Let us look expectantly to a new day, new possibilities…” And so it is.
