Reflections on 30 days to go...

30 days to go until I leave for Europe for a year!

Random reflections:

• Gave notice on my apartment today... will be hard to leave this wonderful little place that has been my home for almost 4 years...
• I love love love love love my apartment so empty... I never want to have that much stuff ever again
• It has felt so right to just give everything away, good karma to help other people, and have met some nice folks
• I have said all along that I will go down to 6 boxes to store... and, interestingly enough, clearing my junk produced 6 purple plastic storage bins... guess that's how I was meant to store my stuff
• I love how brutal I am being about purging... every day I look at the clothes I have left and pull out a couple more things to give away
• It's so cool to not want to shop, I am not drawn to look at stuff, why buy anything now except travel essentials?
• It is SO nice to be following my own rhythms again, to work when I want to work, play when I want to play, rest when I want to rest, doodle when I want to doodle... *happily shakes off remaining traces of corporate routine*

Other interesting purging discoveries:

• 2 gold crowns (giving to my niece who is a jewellry student)
• my old glasses (they say you should take some travelling and thought I didn't have them anymore)
• remote control for my fan that has been hiding for years
• ah, the box of the stuff from when I cleared out my sister's hospice room... wasn't able to face it before, so tucked it away... I've put it aside for a day when I have time to sit with my feelings... but it feels ok now - it was actually her birthday yesterday, and she loved to travel, so I feel she is with with me right now, and is excited for my journey
• found the cutest little lime green keychain flashlight.... and I found it before I went out and bought one
• good black leather coat that disappeared after my last move (kept it)
• half a dozen copies of my book, didn't know I had any left, interesting...
• 'discovered' it would have been good to keep 1 large spoon or cooking tool.... stirring a pot of lentils with a teensy spoon is tricky