A Vast Emptiness

This is the state of our move ... enveloping emptiness all around!

Of course, the emptiness of these spaces fills up others - my recycling bin, the trash can, my car, our packing crates ... it's a very messy business.

What We Stumble Across

The process of relocating to another country (again), stirs up many memories and so much nostalgia, especially when you start sorting through old photos and such ... So please forgive my indulgence here as I share this little "booklet" I created to prepare my then 2.5 year old and 11 month old for the journey from South Africa to the U.S. 32 years ago. Dale was already in the U.S., having started his job, found us an apartment, and bought a new car, so we flew across to reunite with him. I read the 'book' before, and during, the journey to help prepare them (my 2.5 year old particularly) for the changes and procedures that we'd have to endure along the way. I kept it!

Lucy was in the baby sling (as seen in most drawings) and Linus walked and held my hand, while cuddling his favorite stuffed animal, Pookie. Notice in my drawing that I was naïve enough to think I'd be able to sit back and read a book during our layover! My little toddler didn't sleep at all and ended up having a meltdown on the last leg of the journey to Boston. A very kind passenger offered to hold my sleeping infant so that I could deal with my toddler's crisis. How thoughtful! 

As it turns out, I was off by a whole day on the anticipated arrival date, but thankfully Dale realized it himself and was waiting for us at the airport a day earlier than expected. Phew! Thank goodness for analytical people! We all burst into tears at being together again, and Lucy did the honors of christening our first new car by throwing up on the way home! All in all, a very memorable journey.

Here's the story, presented in 2 columns, each row to be read from left to right (I forgot to number them!)

Wanting More

Here's an interesting perspective from the confessional poet, Sylvia Plath:

"Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing."

To me, it's similar to the idiom "the more you have, the more you WANT," yet it goes further by suggesting that more won't fill the hollowness we might feel. The desire to want and have things is not satisfied by MORE, because you likely already have everything you need and don't realize that having things is NOT what satisfies or makes a good life. The emptiness inside doesn't go away by acquiring more things to fill that space.

Ice for Posterity

Okay, so ice formations don't last forever, but I hope that by having captured its fragility here, it will be stored for posterity, to be appreciated at any time (especially seeing as I won't be spending another winter in New England).

The thin, delicate edges are beautifully rounded, like icy fern leaves

How beautiful!