An Interlude.....

This entry is less about school and much more about dealing with being here in Alaska while virtually my entire past is 3,800 (+/-) miles away.

A little background: I have been out and "on the road" for some while now. And as I had been living in company housing and did not own a personal vehicle the majority of my belongings had been boxed, crated, etc and in storage with family. From time to time during holiday visits, etc I would gather some additional items and bring them to wherever I was at that point. Living and working for one theatre between Jan 2006 and December 2008 made some of that easier, since I didn't have to worry about having to pack and move everything every three months (or less). Then, after I left that gig and was out of work for the whole year of 2009 (plus a bit) I got used to having simplified access to all the things I had acquired over the last 50 years.

Now, however, I am here. And all the things I didn't have the space/ability to pack in my luggage had to be left in Arkansas. My theatre texts. My art books. My DVD's and music CD's...Not to mention my science fiction library and various gaming items.

My brother will be, with any fortune, shipping me some additional Winter and "shop working clothing" (overalls, boots, etc) plus a majority of my carpentry tools in the near term. So that is something. But.....

Due to various reasons, my brother will (unless something miraculous occurs) be relocating from Arkansas to Virgina within the next week. Not what he or I had planned but the way of the world...Anyway, the thing that has me anxious (lacking any better word) is that, due to space constraints all of my stuff will be joining a significant portion of his stuff in a storage locker. Now, having all of my stuff in a locker somewhere is nothing new. The new thing is that it (my stuff) will be in Arkansas. And any family member who might be able to go and get stuff for me will be in either Virginia or Florida. Which, considering things practically, means that they will not be available at all.

The logical, reasonable portion of me accepts that I probably won't have access to my "stuff" till I go back down to the lower 48 for the Summer. IF I do that. Since it depends on if and/or where I can find Summer work that makes it rather variable. And that is, logically, okay. After all, there are some theatre texts, etc that I have not accessed for a minimum of several years. So why would I want them now?

That's the issue: why do I feel a bit "at sea" knowing that I won't have the security blanket of being able to have someone dig into a box and ship me
something? After all, the stuff is just stuff. Yes, some of it (family photos for example) is irreplaceable. That percentage is understandable. A little part of me says, at least when regarding the theatre texts, that they might prove handy to have available now that I am back in school. True...But the rest of it ? Sigh...

The reasoning portion of my mind says that it is a good lesson in "simplifying my life". And I am working on that......