Snow roof crush

much tenderness in feeling and challenge to serenity came out this weekend - travel through ice and snow, helping create meals for a dozen people in a small chalet with no running water, many phone calls from recovering beings wanting support, trying to balance my ability to give and receive, taking in love, accepting with grace each nuance of each day.

this morning everything is new, like it was yesterday at 5:15am, shoveling snow off of the van, knowing i would make it out the road, make it to the ferry on time to visit the kids, make it back in time to prep the turkey for christmas dinner - and the sleep, the closeness with my true lover, the distance we take and allow, the depth of understanding that ended the day, yesterday, have settled into experience like snow on a roof, and will slide, melt away to eventually pool, flow, join the ocean of moments past. gratitude for all.

it appears that there is no visa required for portugal travel, we leave on march 30th. small steps need to be taken prior to the trip, all of the big ones have been taken care of. one of the things i enjoy about sharing time/space with virginia is that being prepared in order to avoid last minute rushing and stress is valuable to her too. we have yet to determine based on flight timing and baggage transport options whether we will carry everything on or check a bag or 2.

i'm hoping we can check one shared largish bag all of the way through to faro from seattle although we change airlines in boston. that way we can pack lightly for the flights but keep everything we need in case the checked baggage is delayed or lost. also we can bring things such as nail scissors and files, shampoo and toothpaste (in more than 3-oz size). but if we must carry on everything we will have enough space in our bags for all that we need.