I have gotten into this habit of opening up WordPress in a tab, and having it mix in with my other open tabs, all with the intention of writing something, anything in it. Some of you may have noticed that roughly two months have gone by, and for those of you that haven’t, well I don’t blame you, I barely noticed it flying by either.
I wanted to come home from my vacation and decompress, let everything settle back down around me, but I think I went overboard with that and in turn put more and more pressure upon myself to write something on here. So then it became a cycle of more pressure, and more procrastination, and neither of which ultimately brought me to actually putting down words here.
I had a grand plan of telling you all about my amazing trip west and north, of telling you just how great it was, and I will, but somehow even that got put off. I think I just had to get back into the right head space, and for some reason, that took a little longer than I thought it would. I think I am there now though, so lets find out. In August I made my way back to Seattle and Vancouver, two days in Seattle and then twelve up in Vancouver, a nice little time away from work and everything else back home. I have told you about the first half of that trip in a previous entry, so now let me just talk more about what happened while I was up in Vancouver.
I went up there with an open schedule and let people tell me when they could hang out, I figured twelve days would be plenty, but I was wrong. I wasn’t able to see everyone I wanted to while I was there, and that’s my one regret about the trip. I was able to meet someone new every day but the last two that I was in Vancouver, and that was pretty cool. I “met” people I have talked to for years, and I met people through people I knew, it was a great experience. I was able to hang out with people I knew from the last time I was there, and it was great to see that they could still put up with me.
I apologize to all of you that I wanted to meet up with but didn’t get a chance, believe me when I say that I am just as disappointed as you are about this.
The time I did have in that fantastic city made me fall in love with it all over again. I felt the energy that I had known just two short years before. I recognized streets and places that I had visited before, and I started to plan out adventures in my mind. I didn’t feel like the tourist this time, I felt like I belonged, for however long I was there, and will be in the future, I feel like I fit there. It helps that I have such a great group of people up there to spend time with, some I got to see briefly, some I spent hours with, and others I got to see more than once.
I can’t tell you how many times I was told I should move there, and trust me I would love to, but it is harder than it appears. I will do my best to get close for now, and keep looking into the possibility of showing up there some day. I came home with the large desire to get there, and after a few weeks I let myself realize that there is time for that, and it doesn’t have to be tomorrow, it can be something I continue to work towards.
I think that is one of the things I need to realize more in life, not everything happens quickly, and most things don’t. The things in life that we want, and that are truly worth it often take a long time to get or accomplish, and they always require us to be working towards them constantly. So I am remembering and focusing on that, knowing that forward progress doesn’t always show itself to us in grand gestures, but often sneaks up on us.
I put up the pictures from my trip on my Facebook page and one thing I noticed, and was also commented on, was that I don’t have a lot of pictures with people. At first I was a bit saddened by that, but then I realized it meant that when I was with people, I was WITH people. I didn’t spend a lot of time on my phone, not having a data plan and all that conducive to it helped, but I tried to separate myself from the technology when I could. I still jumped on wifi here and there, and I checked things, especially when I was trying to be in contact with someone, but for the most part I was able to disconnect.
I had some of the best times just being in the moment and talking to people, sharing stories, laughter, and whatever else. Hours would fly by when spending time like that, and damn if I didn’t love it. It is impressive how much lighter my brain feels when I get to actually use it in conversation and discussion, and I crave that feeling more and more as I get it.
I went to burlesque shows and was enthralled.
I went to the art gallery and learned about a local artist as I peered into his mind through his creations.
I ate great food and drank delicious drinks.
I was driven around and taken to where the good food is.
I was only a tourist a little bit, and it felt grand.
I walked a lot.
I rode trains.
I took cabs.
I ate bacon with my beer.
I saw a fantastic movie.
I saw the sun set into the ocean as my feet were in the sand.
I relaxed in my hotel.
I slept diagonally on my king sized bed.
I wandered here and there.
I took pictures.
I sat in a coffee shop and put ink to paper, something I long to do more of.
I created a poem.
I paid to have ink put into my skin.
I gave half assed hugs because of that ink, and feel like I owe better ones to my people.
I felt the energy flow into me.
I smiled upon the city.
I enjoyed it all, and miss it very much.
Vancouver will always have a fan in me, and I will be visiting it a lot and possibly living in it in the future.
I don’t know what will happen as I keep on living this life, but weeks like this really make you realize how great things are.
Thank you.