4 Days in Spokane

One week ago today, at 4am on a Thursday morning, Joseph Pinter and I got into a 20 foot U-Haul truck hauling a car trailer and started a 2,000 mile trip.

Neither one of us slept well;  it was one of those kind of mornings that was both exciting and melancholy, with overtones of finality—I was leaving Kansas City.

A touch of hangover didn't help things, but a surprise send-off at Bistro 303 made the goodbyes easier.

The final night at the old house was sort of sad, but we were ready to leave.

Everything packed with the help of friends as we remembered things. Laugher. Sadness. Happiness. Burnt Easter bunnies and cheap wigs. Things that matter. I had a wonderful times a couple of weeks leading up to this moment having lunch and dinner with people I love, starting the transition between a close-proximity friendship to a long-distance one. Saying goodbye is hard.

We started the trip with an hour and a half detour because I didn't do the GPS correctly. A 12-hour drive suddenly became 14. And Wall, SD, home of the famous Wall Drug is a place you need to talk to Joseph about visiting. Not me.  Badlands. A trip to Mount Rushmore in a a moving van going up a hill going 15 mph. Dogs and Joseph having a competition on who could fart the most.

On the way to Yellowstone, it was hot. AC on high. Joseph told me he loved being warm, hated snow. Hated being cold.

And the Universe noticed. They provided Joseph with snow. Going up and down mountains. Two days' worth. I was very happy, and Joseph, well...

Buying a house on the internet is an adventure reserved only for the not-so-faint-of heart. I think the photos above  provide 4,000 words on this topic. This whole blog will go into details, but this is a sample of what we encountered as we walked into the my new 1905 nicotine-coated abode.

It was hard to drop Joseph off at the airport Tuesday morning after spending six days together. If you've never had a roadtrip with a friend you love, you're missing out: revisiting how you met, counting the various loves and breakups and one-night-stands and mean friends and good friends and gossip and happiness and sadness...and then there were times we were driving along the road and we were just quiet, enjoying the beauty outside, not having to say a word, just knowing that we were experiencing something that was just meant for us to see.

On the last night, we talked about being crabby to each other, and how scared we were and how happy we were and how things will not change, and yet, underneath it all, we knew a shift was going to happen. That night, I woke up in the middle of the night crying. I don't know why.

We drove around for 45 minutes exploring Spokane before he left. Neither one of us wanted to say goodbye.

Joseph had gotten some friends together a couple of nights before the trip and created a fake moving box filled with the things pictured above. Photos and cards and booze and gift cards to Home Depot and love....oh, so much love. I found it after he left, he had strategically hidden it in the house. God, I love these people.

The next day was spent in the basement, tearing out two walls, discovering animal skeletons (JP thinks it was a frog but one bone was 6" long) and the lint from a dryer using the basement for a litter box for years...2" of lint over everything. Electricians and HVAC people and cable installers and power washing the fridge of its petrified remains...was a wonderful day for working on my glutes and biceps. Murray stood at the entrance of the basement (it's only accessible from the backyard) and wouldn't come down. The new invisible roommate in the basement is fine, he's happy...but have another in the upstairs that's gotten a bit angrier in the past day or two, so I've been content to be downstairs for now. And since all the light fixtures operate by screwing/unscrewing the light bulbs, we're living in 24-hour illumination.

The plan is to help Leo with deliveries, so spent this morning doing that and photographed a new cookie basket he's offering (damn those things are good) and he sent me home with every one of them. I gained 12 pounds today. Deliveries again tomorrow,  will learn this town's layout by this time next week.  He has an amazing team, his dedication to his craft is extraordinary, and his mission and values are something we all can learn from. I'm grateful to be a part of this wonderful group of people.

So, hopefully, this brings y'all up to the current moment. Shifts are very important for all of us. As I am undergoing mine, I'll ask you to take a moment, breathe deep, and ask yourself where you want to shift. What's not working in your life? How can you shift it? How can you be happier? And by allowing yourself to be happier, you bring more joy into the world.  Sending light and love and big, wonderful shifts your way.