In recent times, I have been in what we refer to back in South Africa, as a “flat spin”…!!
It is a term coined to describe people who don’t quite know whether they are “coming or going”; people who seem to be living in a dream world, while trying to deal with reality… To be honest, I was definitely in this state of mind for the past few months…
When I left Cochrane in Canada, on the 10th of August, to make my final rides to Washington and New Jersey, my mind was filled with not only the realization of what I was about to achieve in terms of my journey around the world, but also the new “journey” on which I was about to embark upon with Patricia…
It was also filled with thoughts of the visit we planned to reconnect with my friends and family back in South Africa, and the thought of what awaited me/us after that…
All of the above weighed rather heavily on me, as you can imagine, and I found it difficult to concentrate on any one particular thing, as I blasted my way across the North American continent for my date with what I now see as the sweetest of destinies…
And now all those stresses are behind me… Replaced by a different set that I hope will be easier to deal with…!! After all, I will not be dealing with them alone any longer…
Things that I am putting pressure on myself to do, is to publish the many posts missing from my blog; not only those that I have not written about due to time constraints, but also those I could not write due to a host of reasons that will hopefully soon become apparent…
I am also in dire need of exercise to get my body back into shape, after the strain my joints have taken over the past few years… I am pretty sure that Patricia has big plans for me when it comes to that…!! (As an example, I have been “advised” that I should prepare myself for Pilates later this afternoon…!!)
I have spent the last few days taking a fresh look at my surroundings… This is no longer just the island I visited to maintain the promise I made, never be apart from Patricia for more than three months at a time, during the last 15 months of my journey… It is now the place where we will live together while we consider our options for the future…
When we landed in Provo, I managed to sweet-talk the Immigration Officer into extending my visa way beyond the 30 days they normally offer, which solved the problem of having to leave the island for a few days at the end of October, in order to return for another 30 day stint…
I will also no longer be living out of a travel-weary, duffel-bag, stowed in the corner of her bedroom, but will actually have shelves on which to pack my clothes on…!! Although, having returned from South Africa with a large suitcase of my “old clothes”, I now have to find more shelves to put these clothes on…!!
For the foreseeable future, I am to all intents and purposes, the “home executive”, while Patricia occupies the position of “bread-winner”…!! (My, how things have changed, I can hear you say from here…!!)
Today is wash day, and I have THREE loads to contend with…!! The only major stress I foresee, is when it comes to moving Patricia’s “delicates” from the bank of washing machines on one side of the communal laundry room, to the dryers on the opposite side, without other staff members seeing…!!
No easy task this, I can tell you…!! I have just broken into a sweat at the thought…!! It is a fortunate thing that the folding and packing away of these items can be done in the privacy of our apartment… I would be mortified otherwise…!!
Talk about a “new” set of stresses…!!
As someone once said, and it is good to remember in times like these Ronnie,” When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Although I must confess I can never figure out if this means fight or flight?
Hi Ronnie and Patricia
Thanks for the update, thinking of you.
Hiya Richard…!! Hope all well with you… Strength and fortitude in the coming days and weeks…!!
For the time being, it is neither fight, nor flight, but rather a “skillful retreat”…!! A regrouping of the senses after the recent “overload”… Or as my loving wife likes to label it, “decompressing”…!! And what better place to do just that, than on a stunning little island bathed in sunshine (for the time being) and surrounded by the turquoise waters of the Caribbean…?? R.