Tonight my house is quiet. Maise is asleep next to me. Marie and Chase have retired to slumber as well. All I hear are the crickets in my frog's tank and the echo of my steps as I walk through the house with the emptier walls lined with packed boxes.
Today I worked my last shift as an AmeriCorps volunteer. There was no ceremony to it. I spent the final seven hours at the Olympic Coast Discovery Center, five of them with Marie, the two of us giggling the hours away while we stuck stickers on Jenga pieces to create a game the represents how all life forms in the ocean are connected. After we were done we walked briskly home talking about what we wanted to get at Costco, our next stop of the day. And now I'm done, and tomorrow brings packing more boxes and putting more of my life into storage.
When I moved to Port Angeles I brought way too much stuff. My car and my parents' van were packed to the brim with no piece of empty space going to waste. My cast iron pan, a pair of Chacos, mantras, well wishes and last minute hang-outs. and a collage of loved ones were with me ready to go to make my new living space feel instantly like home. I have to admit that there were a couple boxes I found last week in my closet that had never even been unpacked. How that works, I will never know. But it's fitting. There were pieces of myself that I had brought along from my past that I didn't unpack, didn't use, didn't need. The boxes that were unpacked, the pieces of myself I did need, were used well and often and I am glad I had what I needed to succeed (mostly) while I was here.
Of course when I got here I found that there were things I didn't have and would need very quickly: pots and pans, a broom, resilience to adapt to challenging and changing situations, people who understood exactly what I was going through because without them I would have thought myself legitimately crazy, a new-to-me car, snow boots. Now I'm packing these things up with me and hoping that they will serve me well and have a purpose in my next adventure. Will I really need those snow boots in the coastal mountains of California? Maybe not, but you never know. Will I need the friendships I've made while being here to help sustain me and guide me and support me while I find my place in familiar but uncharted waters? You bet.
There might very well be things that I have acquired here that I might not use for some time and will stay packed away for an indefinite period of time. I don't know when in the future I'll have a need to use the hoe-dad Riley gave to me, when I'll put the tree planting skills I learned into use, when the next time I'll have to struggle to explain borrowing to a second grader, or when I might wear the cedar basket necklace an amazing Klallam language teacher gave me, but in they all go with me to California. Just like the beer tabs from countless PBRs and "Port Angeles Pledges" Megan, Paige and I said, the many items (gems, really) Megan helped me find on "Dollar Days" at G Dub Boutique (aka "Goodwill"), the warm and cozy hat Marie gave me for Christmas, and Maise and all her accessories, all of which are enjoyed on a frequent basis and will continue to be so in California.
Parts of me were brought with me but not needed and not used here. Some parts were kept tucked away in a box for a long time. It will be the same in the next chapter. I'm confident I had everything I needed when I came here, but now I'm leaving with an even more loaded arsenal, an even stronger sense of the type of community that can be built, the kinds of friendships that can be made. When I get to La Honda I plan on taking the bare bones, the basics, basically because I won't know what structure I'll be living in, who will have what or what I might need to contribute. I'll have enough to get by for the first week and that will be more than enough. I know that the rest of what might make me my living more comfortable will be back in storage at my parents' house, or perhaps just a thrifting adventure away! But you better believe that in my bag on that first trip I'll have that cast iron pan, my newest pair of trusty Chacos, a new picture collage of my housemates and I, and all that I have learned and loved tucked right in close to my heart to propel me into the next beginning.
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