Two Bliss.

TwoBliss. Two people, two bikes each, two months off. Two x two thousand miles to travel. Bliss.

Final Countdown. 5/28/09

This week was crazy. Between finishing up at work, running errands, packing, loading the moving van, (a truck with a Big A on it…boy those movers are fast packers), and saying goodbye to all of our friends, we are cleansed of the detritus of life, paradoxically refreshed but drained. Letting go of more than a decade of life in Seattle is strange…sigh. But we’re so excited to start our trip!

Sending Forth 5/29/09-6/2/09

We went to church this morning to say goodbye to our friends there. It was Pentecost, rather apropos, we thought, for sending us out into the world to bring good tidings and cheer to everyone we meet on our journey. All of our marriage prep friends were there: Elsa and David, Kathy AJ and Coby. Victoria and Father Tony said a blessing for us to send us off on our trip. We feel so lucky to have experienced such a wonderful community at St. Catherine’s, where we got married. Father Tony was very excited about the prospect of having us in North Carolina, which is one of his favorite places.

The “go away” parties (to borrow an idiomatic mistake from my German friend) this week were amazing and fun: we had a BBQ at Chuck’s on Sunday night with the Brown Trout Frisbee crew and cycling friends, and dinner at the Pac Inn on Monday. These were great cappers to the festivities. Our support network here is fantastic and we will miss you all. Thanks to everyone for gifts, hugs, and love, with special kudos to Tony and Kim, Chuck and Cory for letting us couch surf while we packed up our house in Seattle. We are setting off equipped with a deep cache of support and hope.

School’s out for summer 6/2/09

I feel like events in my Seattle life are pushing us out of our nest like little birdies. I almost cried when I left the office on my last day of work yesterday. It’s curious how one can get connected to a place. I suppose I spent more time there than at home over the last years.

Mixed emotions abound as we head out: It was tough to keep it together this week. I’m still in denial, thinking that we’ll be back in Seattle after our cross-country trip. But we’re so excited about the new adventures awaiting us in the Triangle Area. We’ll be in Portland tonight hanging out with Sirikit and Greg from the cycling team. It’ll be so fun to see them!

Matt has tetrisized the car: all four bikes on top, bins for food and clothes stacked and stowed, with everything fitting just right so that it doesn’t move around while we’re on the road. So here we go into the wild blue yonder! Remember, this is good night and not good bye, my dearest Seattle friends.