Counting Down the Days

The days are ticking off until I leave for the west coast. There are 74 days left until I leave.  Wow, that seems like such a small number now.  I only have 46 days of work left before the end of my term of employment. I can't wait. I have enjoyed my work, and feel a fair bit more knowledgeable about the field than I did upon arrival here just over a year ago.  Now it's onto the next stage of my life. Post-student loan era...I can smell the freedom, it's that close. Sometimes it makes me giddy.


Although the fire has certainly influenced my perspective on life, my path has not wavered.  If anything, I feel more determined to hit the road and head west again. My daughter is there, as is my sister and her boys, and a great deal of good friends. I've spent so much of my life living on the east coast that I feel I'm due a change of scenery and an improvement in weather conditions. That also makes me giddy. I do worry about the heat, but reckon I'll adapt soon enough once immersed. 


Driving home from a worksite visit yesterday in heavy rush hour traffic, I was began thinking about how very different Tuesday at 5pm will be in just 3 months from now. I won't be coming home from my current 9-5 desk job.  I'll be on the open road, heading west.  I come home to this new apartment, and nothing about it feels like home.  It is too big for the measly amount of items that are mine here. 


Moving into a vw bus for a year will be both a challenge and a relief.  The smaller space is much less to warm up to, and will be "pimped out" (as my daughter would say) in whatever design I reckon I can stomach for a year in such close quarters. I am thinking I'll stay away from stereotypical hippy bus design. I've seen a few and they look cheap or juvenile.  I have been drawn more towards the cooler colors of the ocean - the blues, blue-greens, and emeralds, with a dash of deep purple here and there (cause I have to have some purple). Warm that color pallette up with some natural linens and cotton fabrics and I think it will turn out okay. I just want somewhere I can feel very relaxed. 


I still have a great deal of prep for the trip, as I lost all of my planning books, my lists, a great deal of my camping gear, and so on.  It almost overwhelms me, but then I remember I don't have a great deal of stuff to pack up now, so it should be much less of a physical challenge than past moves have been. Bittersweet realization. But hey, I'm ready to move on now.


Tomorrow it will be 73 days.