Dear Friend,
How was your week? I hope that you have managed to stay healthy and that you are taking good care of yourself. With the cold weather and also with so many people (and animals) in discomfort, I know that it is sometimes difficult to think of our own health as being of paramount importance. Well, it is crazy important! In fact, there’s no time like the present to go get yourself a nice big glass of water to drink right now. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Delicious! Thanks for coming back to spend this time with us on the very last day of 2023 - thank you for reading Tracks by the Post!
What a week it has been, a cold full moon wrapping up the holiday season. How does it feel to know that the remainder of this year is the remainder of this day? And, it’s safe to say, we’re all a year older than we were when we started this blog/letter 53 weeks ago. Happy belated
Birthday to you!
I started this blog/letter on Sunday January 1st 2023 with the hope that as Frank and I journeyed to wherever we were going, I would post something to you every week. I had no idea how many wonderful people we would meet, amazing places we would visit... what an incredible year it has been! And: Yay! It’s the 53rd week, 53 posts, success! And YOU. Please give yourself a gigantic hug; YOU have been a Heart-Light along our way, and we are Very Grateful for YOU!
Maybe you don’t already know, it was scary for me to post my first blog/letter. The fact is, I am a private person and don’t really want to ‘go public’ with my own thoughts and such. Besides, the internet is full of blogs. What would I have to say that anyone would want to read?
But I posted anyway, and thanks to you, I realized that there was someone reading. I always appreciate hearing from you - it’s like a hug. Thank you!
As we traveled, I often had to ask Frank to drive to a Library in a town with internet so that I could post my blog/letter to you, I didn’t want it to be late. Though, I think that it was late a few times, I appreciate his support and every effort that you have taken to check in to read.
Then, as we made our way from Winter into Spring, Frank saw that I wasn’t kidding about posting every week and he decided to collaborate with me. His photography is so beautiful. Of course, I’m happy that he has been sharing his work, and I know that I am fortunate that he and I have been able to collaborate for as many weeks as we have!
We’ve collected a LOT of media from the past year. Photos, videos, and audio clips of bird song, frog chirps, coyote chatter … and some of our own banter, too. We do plan to process this media and hope to build a short documentary that shows and tells about our year. We are looking forward to sharing the final ‘nature film,’ with you. [I thought that we’d be doing something (smaller) like that today but that was before we put our files together and saw how much media we have to work with.] EGHADZ! Since less is more, we are in the process of culling a mountain of media ... it will happen.
Your next year … have you thought much about it? Have you been so busy with the past two weeks that tomorrow seems like a long time from now? I understand that feeling. It’s surreal to wonder about the next few days, weeks, months that will make up 2024. What will change in your life? Who will you meet? Where will you go? How will you grow?
Take a deep breath in and as you exhale look up into the sky. (If you are inside a building, maybe you can go look out a window). Just look at that big, beautiful sky. Technically, it’s part of you, you’re breathing it, and so am I. And so is the cat next door and the dog down the street and your mail-person and the trees and every single living thing in the whole world! Weird, huh? It’s fun to know that you and I are part of this whole big life, together, even when we’re really far away from each other … even if we didn’t know each other … that sort of together is a powerful part of living. No matter who we are, we are together. All the more reason to celebrate, dance, sing, be joyful; share the light!
What a gift it has been to know that you have been there, checking in on us this past year.
And as we continue our quest for home, we’ll keep you in the loop, just look for our Tracks by the Post.
Wishing you a Happy New Year - May kindness lead the way!
Gently Be,
Leslie and Frank
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