Pre-Ramble

Forgive the first post for being two weeks late (or a little more--time has lost some of its importance since Thanksgiving), and for not really being a post at all, but a farewell memo to a bunch of work colleagues. The day before Jenava went into labor was my last day of work in Nordstrom's technology tank. Jenava was my boss before Ben and I was her doula two weeks ago when she and Mike had baby Torben, the chillest sweet baby ever. That story deserves its own blog, but that's their own amazing story to tell; I am just thrilled to have been there.

This blog is about me and Ben leaving our lives in Seattle, putting everything we have into storage, and taking to the road in Billy Blue, Ben's 1966 Ford pick-up, to see what glorious things and people we can encounter in America. South is first, because brrrr. I can't stop writing goofy letters to myself, and Ben takes delicious photos, so we'll do our best to capture the juiciest bits and share something delightful. We're not sure if this is for us or for you, or if it really matters. It's just a journey, quite literally as well as in the kooky, cosmic sense. 

So, here's my self-penned corporate obituary. (The part about the camper isn't happening yet. We opted for nightly warm beds and daily hot showers. We believe we have chosen wisely. You'll see the snow in Billy's postcards. He gets a little shutter-happy.) 

From: Avigail, James-Olivia E
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2014 4:04 PM
To: a bunch of Nordstrom colleagues
Subject: until soon...

And so the adventure begins.

You can live vicariously this luscious life of homelessness and unemployment. It will be grand. There will be a blog and everything. Let me know if you want a link. And if you know of any cool places and stuff that we should explore, please share. We will, in turn, share back what we find. We are out to discover! We want to find folks making gorgeous things and growing gorgeous food, incredible people doing what they can to make the world sweeter, more interesting, more wondrous, and then also some other random and weird miscellany.

Drop a line occasionally just because. Email is super.

Or text me, because texts are swell, too, if you’re feeling a bit slapdash. I actually love texting—it makes me feel sixteen again, not that we had texting when I was sixteen (but I would have like totally had a Cyndi Lauper iPhone case if we had). Be warned: you may receive an MMS novel back. It can’t be helped; I’ll have a bit of free time on my hands and Apple lets you just keep typing until you run out of words. Rather dangerous in the wrong hands, I’d say. Crazy, riotous ideas get bandied back and forth and before you know it you’ve been swept off your feet by the most beautiful, wild person you can imagine and you’re rambling through the Southwest in a magnificent 1966 Ford pick-up with a funny little camper and plotting the international leg of your absurd “plan” to follow your heart. Well played, Technology.  Well played.

So cheers to technology, because that’s how this all started, including meeting you (unless we met in cosmetics when dinosaurs roamed the earth like I’m about to do). And cheers to the big sky and open road ahead. Please, please, please keep in touch.

Love,

James