Hello, friends!
Three weeks ago today, Bear and I started our intense and eventful journey from Austin, Texas to Edinburgh, Scotland. I’m relieved to report I’m writing this from the comfort of our cozy flat in the beautiful Scottish capital with the aid of our newly set up WiFi.
Our travels were about as trying as I anticipated, although the particular iterations of our trials kept us on our toes in a constant rhythm of problem, solution, problem, solution… and I did not foresee how deeply exhausting doing that dance for days on end would be, not least because we have been engaged in it for months leading up to this grand showcase of improvisation and flexibility — skills I’m not exactly known for. After five days of adventurous travel with ten bags and three pets in tow, having overridden my nervous system’s desperate need for rest in service of arriving in Scotland on schedule, I succumbed to fatigue between my shifts of remote work in the sanctuary of our hotel room for the nearly two weeks we were checked in. While I lacked the capacity to write detailed reports of our adventures and thoughtful meditations on them, I did manage to catalog the highlights in my travel journal both in real time and upon reflection.
I intend chronicle those events for you all in the coming days, now having the benefits of a developing routine in stable housing, but for now I simply wanted to report to interested parties that we are safe and sound. I apologize to those who have reached out with concern after not hearing from me in so many weeks, and I appreciate your care.
Thank you for being here. It means so much to me.
Love,
Val