I had three extremely excellent conversations yesterday. All were different in nature, but all were intriguing and thought-provoking. At a time when “communication” takes place by mostly technical means, face-to-face and telephone conversations are special. At least, they are to me.
The first was with one of the security guards at school. Our paths have crossed for more than a year; we have waved “Hey!” but never spoke at any length. Born and raised in Christian County and graduated from Austin Peay, he was at one time a young photo-journalist covering celebrities, among them Alice Cooper, KISS, and Alabama. Not at all a typical career path for a boy from Western Kentucky. So we talked about what it’s like being different, having neither encouragement nor role-models, being fulfilled and content. It wasn’t particularly deep, but it could have been.
A short while later, one of my Japanese ESL students came in to visit. She journals in English, and each week she comes to pick up the one that was dropped off last week to be reviewed by me, and to drop off an other one. Of course, we have a few minutes of “small talk” when we talk about the past weekend, her family and such; I get such a kick from witnessing how her confidence with the language is growing!
I occasionally remind my students via email that even though we won’t have another class until August, I am available to help them with any situations that may be confusing. They haven taken me up on the offer, too. So far, I’ve explain funeral rituals in the U.S., how to request a refund of a portion of an extended car warranty, and how to send something important via FedEx.
Yesterday I was asked to help my friend complete a power-of-attorney form. She has a hard decision to make: whether to go back to Japan at the end of the year as an entire family, or allow her daughter (who will be a senior in high school) to live with her music teacher and graduate with her class. Completion of the form was “just in case.”
Finally, I got a call from my good friend in Virginia. We were both liveaboards at Gangplank Marina in Washington, D.C. in 1994 and we were everyday walking buddies. She and her husband are also in the midst of transitioning to RVing full-time. She called to say she’d been following my blogs and laughs, commenting that even though our destinations are the same, our journeys are completely different. I encouraged her to jot down a little something each day to help her remember these times, for “we shall never pass this way again.” I hope she does; she has good ideas to share.
Amazingly, each of these conversations was pretty much about the same thing…being true to one’s self when making major life decisions in spite of the challenges. How incredible that these conversations happened when they did.
http://m.metrolyrics.com/we-may-never-pass-this-way-again-lyrics-seals-and-crofts.html
Love the Jung quote Maria! And of course today’s installment! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…knowing you is like having a constant “ray of sunshine” in my life. Your ESL students are SO BLESSED to have you guiding them along!
A follow up to yesterday’s phone chat about rearranging RV living space….storage wins over getting the comfy chair! We ditched the idea of getting a fold out chair I was telling you about and will put a cabinet in that space instead. We actually have 3 nice cabinets to choose from in our house right now…have measured them all and considered weight. The nice oak cabinet in our home office is likely the winner….has two doors on the front and two large shelves inside. It’s the most lightweight and takes up the least amount of space. And it’s not very tall…don’t want to cover up our picture window!
Also, having the oak cabinet can serve as extra counter space for craft projects and such. And hubby said “You could put your Christmas village on top of it during the holidays!” I had to laugh at that. No…I won’t be schlepping my Christmas village around in our RV. No room for that! But it will be a nice spot for a small Christmas tree! I think sometimes he says things like that to ensure I stay engaged with our next chapter of FT RVing. Esp. since a lot of “stuff” I have enjoyed over the years (like Christmas and all the decorations that go with it) will either be given away to family, sold, donated, or put in our small storage space. So I have to keep reminding him…I am the one who woke him up from an afternoon nap last winter and announced…why don’t we live in our RV full time for a while?!
Still can’t believe we are both heading towards FT Rving and in the same make/model RV. How funny is THAT? So instead of thinking about “raft ups” with friends like we did in the boating days we will think about RV meet ups…and what exactly are those called? RV rendezvous?