When I was 19 and at university, 3000 kilometres from where my family lived, I planned to not go home for Christmas. I was living on student loans and money was tight. My mother quietly listened to my logic, then sent me a plane ticket. Of course, I had a wonderful time. But I remember … Continue reading Christmas (not) at Home
The movers bring the furniture that has spent the last 8 month in a storage locker. As the boxes come in I keep an eye out for a special one— the one that says, “Open First.” I can’t find it. The next day, with basic arrangement of furniture done but still so much unpacking to … Continue reading Open This Box First
There seems to be no end to the helpful advice for getting through quarantine. Have a schedule, get dressed everyday, learn a language or musical instrument, all the way through to day drinking games, or how to have a Zoom meeting without cleaning your space or putting on pants. I have only spotted two recommendations … Continue reading What NOT to do in Quarantine
I’m making face masks, so I search through the boxes in my storage locker off the parking garage and find—almost nothing. I used to have it all, not so long ago. Boxes of fabric, piles of notion, including seam binding and elastic. Some of them ten, maybe even 20 years old, but saved, “just in … Continue reading What I Regret and What I Don’t
I really have been meaning to post the last of the Tofino photos. It’s been nearly three weeks, and it’s not like I’ve been busy. Yet so much has happened that I feel like I need to add a disclaimer— these are from a while ago, I have actually been staying at home, practicing appropriate … Continue reading Not Going Anywhere
“Flight’s still there!” He said with excitement as he checked the website. “I’m checking in!” “Oh. No, wait.” He scrolled. “Why is it showing another flight, too, to Sacramento? And one from there to Chicago? But it’s before my flight leaves Vancouver.” He checked again. “Wait, it’s the next day.” And that’s the way it … Continue reading Flying in the Time of COVID-19
I look at the toiletries that I keep separate in a liquids bag, for ease when travelling as I do with only carry-on. I open it and pour it into the main bag. I suspect I will not be on a plane for a while. It is Friday the 13th, and I am repacking my … Continue reading Changing Plans with COVID-19
I take a deep breathe and launch down a black diamond run at Killington, heart pounding, and I remember how much I love to ski! When a friend first invited me to come to Vermont for New Year's I didn't really consider it. At Christmas when I was in Hawaii she reminded me and I … Continue reading A Year of Travel: How It Changed Me
I wake up and I don't know what to do. It's not just that I have a choice that is difficult, but I honestly, on my first day home, have no idea what I should do. I wander around the apartment and look at the boxes that need unpacking, the suitcase with laundry and papers … Continue reading Home— and It’s Complicated
Technically, I have been homeless for 7 months. I walked out the door of the house I'd lived in for 18 years in mid-April and will not have an address of residence for another two weeks. In reality, it has been a privileged and voluntary form of homelessness. For 5 months of that period I … Continue reading Homeless
Brave Travels 