)(( hannah mello ))(

A Goodbye to these, The Suitcase Years.

For going on 3 years, I have been living out of a suitcase. Not as cool and vintage as the one photoed here from a London exhibition, but one nonetheless.

This post is in honor of what I know now. What I know. What I know now.

For these 3 years, every single country on the globe has been an item in question. Starting that fateful June 1st morning....

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The Start of The Suitcase Years: June 1, 2005
I had been restless since January of that year-- having stayed up all night on New Years really dedicating the year ahead with making a prayer book-- saying no to 3 party invites in order to be alone and intentional in doing so. I had sensed that 2005 would be a big year in some way. On the early morning of June 1st, I found myself holistically awake, alert and not able to sleep. I waited until 4:30 am (when Starbucks opens :)...) and after getting my beloved Chai, went to Twin Lakes beach. I parked my car parallel to a certain green-light-ed lighthouse at the harbor opening and walked out.

For 2.5 hours, I just WAS THERE. I can't say that I thought a conscious thought or felt a specific emotion, I just WAS in a space. A space of being and a space of SILENCE. Holistic silence. But a meaningful silence. Piergiuseppe from Italia Year 1 once said that silence can be empty. Oh so true. This wasn't that kind of silence.

After that, I went to work EARLY (way early), did online searches, made a meeting with a humanitarian-work director for that day, ended up having an impromptu but randomly TIMELY meeting with my bosses (on 2 separate occasions) who gave me the okay to move on, AND found the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) EXACT SITUATION (in Greece) where I ended up leaving to do 2.5 months later!!!!!! What a fateful day. June 1, 2005.

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The Suitcase Years since: 2005-present 2007
I have UNEXPECTEDLY lived out what my 83 year old grandma always claimed I was: "the gypsy in the family". I set out to do ONE solitary year of adventuring and it ended up being 2, and now it's turning into 2.5.

Greece (Vrahati/Corinth living + Athens, Delphi, Santorini, and Peloponnese travels), Italy (Naples & Modena living with so so so many travels) with travels to Budapest (Hungary), the UK (many England places + in Scotland + in Ireland), Paris (France), Figueras & Barcelona (Spain), Berlin (Germany)...

Not even those physical gypsy-ing, but mentally-- EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, a slough of careers and experiences and opportunities HAVE BEEN AN "OPTION". I have considered traveling and living EVERYWHERE. I STILL am in a strange "land"-- it being New York in AMERICA, but part of the Suitcase Years nonetheless.

The Suitcase Years are coming to an end...

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A Goodbye to the Suitcase Years: The Almost
Here I am, IMMERSED in this world, literally RIGHT NOW getting ready to go to a New York friends' BBQ (such amazing people who are so much fun-- and with whom I am SO GRATEFUL to be connecting with and intersecting life with... I feel so honored and privileged and grateful...). I know know know that this is a place of BEING and important transitioning. But... I feel feel feel the Wind changing.

I am ready ready ready (with rest-infused and joyful excitement) to:

• unpack my shed (the literal shed beside my parents' mobile home that is housing my 24 years of loving-to-buy art and things of significance)
  
• be around people I know and that know me-- the familiar (as much as I NEEDED needed needed the always-meeting-someone-new of day-to-day Suitcase Years' life, I am so excited about just BEING with family and close friends for the next season)
• NOT doing, doing, doing (not the driven, "motivated" lifestyle of business, but a rest-infused people-focused life)
• being a nature girl on the Pacific coast yet again
  
• enter grad school (knowing with joy that I need years of life experience in and after grad school to be in the field of people-working and life-sharing that I want to be in)
• be a back-up singer/co-writer and sharpen my musicianship (which has been ON HOLD for these years of personal deepening/development)
• share the art that I have been creating these years of adventuring (maybe a photo show or books of some kind)
• really live a non-consumer-oriented life of simplicity to help redistribute time and resources and finances to people more than things... (!! I care!!!)

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KEY 1: All this readiness stems from periods of REALLY NOT being ready. Really NEEDING to be "the gypsy in the family" and being independent and out alone in some unknown country. I needed every moment. I am so grateful that I learned (through trial and failure) to be present and really take advantage of those opportunities...

KEY 2: The Suitcase Years have really taught me what I don't want to be and to do and what I truly do want to be and to do.

KEY 3: I KNOW that I need this Almost portion of the goodbye. It's cementing the appreciation for the Suitcase Years and really preparing me holistically for the season to come.

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So, here I am, in last stage of The Suitcase Years. Here I am in New York City, WITH PEOPLE. With them. Being with them. And being with them. Such gems of unique backgrounds, ages experiences, multi-cultural/religious/ethnic backgrounds, and such different mentalities and personalities. What a joy. What a joy. I love just simply sharing life with these people in my life-- my housemates and my new circles of friends. My 9-5 job has been really just BEING WITH THEM since the job description is straight-forward and relaxed. I love it. I love it.

So... Cheers to the coming-soon goodbye to these, The Suitcase Years, and all that will be built on all that they were... !! :)

posted by )(( hannah mello ))( @ 3:17 PM