New Experiences

Put coffee in your oatmeal.

I have now been back in Seattle for two months!

The experiences of my last visit to Alaska still permeate my everyday reality. Anytime I hear Alaska mentioned I jump at the chance to reminisce about my time there and the beauty that is so hard to find anywhere else. The entire month of October I was in culture shock. After falling easily back into the intense routine of everyday life in Alaska, and driving for five days on the Alcan highway through some of the most remote country in the North America, arriving back in civilization with no home and no job was tough. A few gracious friends took me (disillusioned and struggling with modern amenities) in, and let me set up my tent on their back porch. They took me in even though they were dealing with bed bug scares and new house mates moving in! For this I am indebted to them.

As I once again dug into the challenge of re-acquainting myself with technological devices, I was able to secure a part-time position at the REI Seattle Flagship Store (2nd most popular tourist attraction in Seattle & rated one of the best place to find a date) working as a sales specialist in the men's clothing department. I also found a wonderful house in Greenlake just three blocks from my last Seattle home. There's even a vegetable garden to take care of out front!

Now I am fully assimilated back into lower 48 culture. But lately, because of a few interesting conversations and quotes from close friends, I have been thinking more about living in the present. Living in the present is tougher than you might think initially. It means letting go of worrying about the mistakes you made in the past, not worrying about the problems yet to come, and just letting the moments of your day sink in and happen without thought of consequence. I am so used to jumping from one place to the other and feeling the need to seek out my next adventure that I haven't been truly living in the present. I am finding that I have had a lot of amazing experiences over the past year or so, but because I've always been searching for the next job, or the next place, I haven't been able to sit back and appreciate the small moments.

So here's to the small moments and appreciating the things we take for granted. It's been suggested to me before, and now I think I am consciously going to attempt to listen. Put coffee in your oatmeal, boil it with the oats along with cinnamon, brown sugar and milk. Enjoy the sweat caffeinated experience-and mostly importantly- live the moment!