Blog
the 'P' part, travelling light?
So my high school friend
emails me a few days ago as we made plans to connect for Sunday
lunch. “Whatever happened to travelling light?” she writes, as
we'd been describing some of our adventure back and forth. I thought
back, no one said anything about travelling light, doing life light I
guess but travelling light, nope!! I scanned back through the email
thread just to check, no nothing there, I was right! But she had hit
a nerve for sure. What was this trip all about? Doing life light,
didn't that mean travelling light to match?
Back to the beginning of the
travelling part of this adventure. About 10 days ago now as we were
dropped off at the Nanaimo ferry terminal and the bags were unloaded
and we start to get them into the terminal the thought going through
my mind was 'we've still got too much stuff'. Knowing the amount of
travel we had in front of us, and still have, my heart sank a bit
more. I'd basically been up all night hours before catching the 8am
ferry at our dear friends home going through my suitcases, a large
tote and various boxes of all I had left to my name for the final
pack. I didn't know what I still even had or where it was.
Favourite items of clothing and bits and pieces I was continuing to
hold on to were now being left behind. I was so tired but had to
keep picking up the next thing my hand fell to and make a decision
about it. Pack it? - is there room/weight left in the suitcase,
thrift store? - put it in the tote, or tuck it into the few remaining
spare square inches of the 3rd trunk we had allowed
ourselves to keep and store at this same friends home. I didn't and
still don't know if I'll see those items again, or at least for a few
months, will it matter, blah, blah, blah!!
10 days later and a variety
of planes, trains, coaches, cars and the odd porter my mind is still
a blur, I still don't know what I have dragged this far.
Stuff – why is it so
important to us? Why is it still so important to me? 95% of what I
owed a month ago is gone, sold, thrift store or given away. Is that
why what I had left, and am dragging around I'm holding on to so
tightly?
Harry and I broached the
subject yesterday as we had to make the final decision about where to
fly to Malaga from, Manchester or Gatwick? We had previously
discussed a visit to my Mum and sisters, just outside of Manchester
after this Surrey house sit and before we head to Spain and then to
France. That will entail both of us, 4 large - 50lb suitcases and 4
'carry on' 20-35lb each bags. A train or coach/train trip with a
variety of changes in order to get from here to there. Harry's take
is 'he's dragged everything this far and isn't ready to now dump 50%
of it to make the rest of the trip easier'. I just kept quiet, 'cos,
as much of a hassle it is, I want to hold on to it all, still. New
plan for visiting family up north. Harry stays at the house sit, I
go to Manchester for a couple of days then return here before Spain
via a much closer airport that we can be dropped off directly at.
Right now there are
thousands of refugees all across Europe with literally just the
clothes on their back. I have no idea how much they used to own,
what they left behind, and what choices they had to make, or were
made for them. The degree of urgency and danger give life and stuff
a different perspective. Now that Harry and I caught the ferry that
took us to Vancouver in time to catch our flight is behind us there
is little urgency. There is no one chasing or threatening us, so
there's very little danger either.
The invitation that Harry
and I have accepted is to live light for a while, lighten the load,
kick back for a few months. Take a breath and look around, truly
open our eyes and see what's going on around us, at least a bit more
than you usually can working 40 hours a week, keeping up a home and
all of life that goes with that. The analogy, if that's the right
word, was voiced several years ago on a Sunday morning at sharing
time at our local congregational meeting, 'church'. God wants to
give me, show me, let me experience a whole new bunch of stuff but my
hands, my life are so full Deb said that I don't have room to hold
these new 'things'. I first have to empty my hands, my life of all
the extra clutter and stuff I hold dear before He can fill them with
what He has in mind. It's the bowl of weevily peanuts in exchange
for the bowl of Brazil nuts (for me) or Cashews (for Harry). Now, at
least 10 years later I, we are at the same point. God has extended a
very similar invitation to us, to see where He is at work, what He's
doing and offer us a new way of doing life, and perhaps joining Him
on His adventure.
Back to the luggage. Do you
see where this is heading? The tighter I hold on and the more I hold
on to that is where my focus is, and where my energies literally go
to. Harry has been inspired by the story of another couple who house
sit all over New Zealand and have whittled down their belongings from
a home's worth to a couple of ruck sacks, (back packs). Not only do
they do life light, they travel light too. My guess is very little
energy goes into sustaining what they have. But what have they opened themselves up to by doing this? How much more are they able
to take in and enjoy? How flexible is their life? Is what they are
doing right for us? Is what we're doing right for us? Harry keeps
telling me, this year, the one we started a few weeks ago is an
experiment. We have a lot to learn, a lot to process and I think a
lot more to give up. What will be our gain at the end of it? I'm
waiting for the biggest bowl of Brazil nuts there is, and I'm looking
forward to how good they are going to taste once I put down my bowl
of weevily peanuts.
I haven't given up on 'part
2' of the blog, but really felt I needed to share this to help me
process. I'll get back to it. Thanks for reading!
P.
