Life in the Slow Lane

The staycation is all the rage these days, but here in the Slowlane we've mixed it up a bit. Instead of staying home and doing all the things you would do on a vacation, we are spending a couple of nights in several beautiful locations, traveling from place to place, all the while going to our jobs. It is kind of the opposite of the staycation. For our purposes we'll call it the workadayroadtrip. Similarly to a vacation, packing is critical. During our workadayroadtrip we will be staying in four or five guest bedrooms, one hotel room, tent camping, traveling by plane, car, and possibly bus, attend a beach wedding and at least one baby shower (where to stow gifts?), and show up smiling and professional looking for the nearly normal work schedule (iron mysteriously not included). Try packing for that workadayroadtrip. Before you credit me with super-human packing skills, let me tell you that I trusted summer stupor to keep people from noticing that I wore the same outfit three ...

A teenage friend of mine called me at work the other day, super excited about the new Bible he got in the mail. Of course, it was only the first half of the Bible. That is all that would fit in the shipment: ten thick volumes in Braille. He asked me if he could read to me from it and ever so slowly he read me a verse from Genesis, feeling out the words as only a new reader does. The old story of God speaking light into the darkness... it matters.

What a moon to end it on, eh?

Do you know how many times I have tried to retire the "Nomad" series on my blog? But here I am, at it again. This weekend finds me patriotically packing my things and who knows when I will be able to unpack them? Of course, I've gained quite a few things since I last packed all of my belongings and headed out to who-knows-where. The list of things I have acquired bears a remarkable resemblance to my wedding registries. Toss in a few miscellaneous items of furniture for good measure, the belongings S.O.S. brought to our marriage, and the MEGA-GRILL that suddenly has become the "make-it or break-it" determining factor in what housing situation will work for us... and you can well understand why I had hoped the word "nomad" would not be required. But the time has come to say goodbye to our Cataluna house and I'm back to the life of a nomad. This world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through... but in the mean while, I've got quite the...