Heading into a new adventure requires a battle with the past. The past is first bundled, then boxed up and finally scattered on blankets with pink price tags on a friend's lawn. I recently saw Wendell Berry speak in Seattle. He read a story about a family's farm put on sale. There is a moment when the narrator talks about the divorce from the objects once they are put out for bid. Cutlery and dishes, intrinsic to the daily life, suddenly became something apart. And with these new eyes, these objects just look tattered and not your own anymore. Sitting in the safety of the chair with the box of change on my lap, all those books, clothes and trinkets become once more just things. There is something magic and strange about that transition.
This yard sale is the start of a new shedding. A departure from my beloved grey Washington with its magic light at the end of August. Look at how lovely and strange it is:
I've spun the wheel once and Budapest and The Central European University is where it begins. Where it will take me.... we'll find out.
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