UPGRADES

With all the chaos that is whirling around our heads these days, with only ten days until take off, it is hard to believe that we actually found the time to make modifications to our exteriors! However, we did. We took a 'Ferris Bueler's Day Off' and in between the various number of errands that we had been running, for several days in a row, we got tatted and pierced. Idalis had been wanting to get her nose pierced for some time. However, due to her obligations to the Dade County School Board, she never felt quite able to pull it off without appearing to become less responsible. Go figure! As for me, I have been shunning responsibility for some time now so I was a go for a new tattoo. I had taken my parents to a web site that gives exact coordinates for various locations throughout the globe. I asked them to point the cursor at the exact location where I had been born and thus the coordinates, latitude and longitude, have made their way onto my feet. It took me until the absolute last minute to decide exactly where to put them and I owe it all to the combined effort of Idalis and Katie. Idalis says that this way 'my feet will always guide me home.' I felt like it was more of a 'if lost, return to sender!'

Things are really cranking now and I think it is fair to say that Idalis and I are both a hot mess! Just after I was starting to feel like we were getting somewhere, I got some bad news. First, it looks like our little pug, Aphrodite, has osteo- arthritis in her two rear hips and 'grade-four' gum disease. Now, both of us will be taking glucosamine each morning and one of us will be getting a deep root cleaning. Aphrodite's next follow up appointment will be on Monday, August 11th. That will be the day before we leave, for those of you who are following along. The other bit of malinformation was delivered by our State Farm agent, with a smile I might add. Apparently after 22 years of consistent and timely insurance payments, on my behalf, they are completely unable to accomodate our request to cover my sister to drive our car and be insured while we are away. Therefore, we must now pay to transfer tag and title to my sister only to have to transfer it back to us again upon our return. Leave it to beaurocracy to tap one's wallet dry! I am glad I sold the Jeep (thanks Eddy, enjoy!) and don't have to give them another cent!

The apartment is close to empty and we have been sleeping on the couch bed, which will soon reside in our friend Rick's house, and spending the night on the floors and couches of friends and family, all the while living out of bags. Good practice, I suppose. Never in a million years would I have guessed how involved a process it is to disappear! Thanks to the complexities that modern man has bestowed upon himself, and us, the work to prepare never seems to end. At this point, I feel as if it will take a miracle to get us on that plane, but get on that plane we will. Believe it or not, we only recently secured a reservation for our first night in Madrid (thanks Mum!). Stick around folks, things are about to get interesting!

For those of you who have been following this blog, you are starting to realize that I have somehow become philisophical. So, let me continue, lest I disappoint the readership. The newest lesson is a lesson in clarity. I think it is safe now to say that we have pretty much become single track minded, in a good way. What I mean is that we have pretty much managed to dissolve all aspects of life that do not directly correlate to this trip. In doing so, a lot of the customary clutter in our lives has been eliminated. This, in turn, has allowed us to streamline thought, eliminate clutter and refine focus. You would be absolutely amazed at how receptive the mind becomes once it is devoid of distraction. Another way of putting it is that we have actually become kind of good at recognizing signs and listening to that little voice in our heads. When something is good and right and in line with the powers of the universe (What?), then things just fall into line. Such has been the case with this dream of ours. The more we just allow things to happen and follow our instincts, the less resistance we meet on our path. I assume this is the goal of meditation and the concept behind nirvana. I am fairly certain that it can be applied in all aspects of life or any goal or dream. I suppose the simplest way to put it is, practice not doing and everything will fall into place.