Tag Archives: Oregon

May7

My last days in Wilsonville

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Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday – April 24th, April 25th, and April 26th, all in 2024

I am a sentimental creature, by nature.  I may have mentioned that recently, but it rang especially true over the last few days.

I have been emotionally tumultuous through the last day’s that I’ve spent in the town that had been my home for the last four years.  I was holding it together pretty well until I took the photos down from the walls of my apartment – but once the photos of my friends, family, and adventures came down… So to did my emotional walls.

I wasn’t able to cry, which almost made it worse.  All I felt was a hole deep inside my soul, radiating raw sadness and loneliness at the sight of my emptying apartment.

It was my apartment, not my home.  My home was warm and comfortable, with welcoming photos of smiling family watching over me.  My apartment is sterile, with blank white walls and moving boxes against the walls, blocking off the couch.

At the same time, I was elated!  I’d be on a plane to Greenland by this time next week, and I’d be well on my adventure this time next month!!  I had tours of glacier caves booked, and countless other adventures simply awaiting my arrival in time!

The best way I’ve found to describe this was that I’ve finally left my anchor behind… But, without that anchor holding me steady to the seafloor, I’m careening from one wave to another, through peaks and troughs.

I can feel the waves calming, though, and writing all of these “going away” posts has helped me out quite a bit. So too has taking and reviewing some final pictures from Wilsonville… a last set from my walks around the town that’s been so good to me.

May4

The Process of Leaving – Part 7

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April, 2024 – Stripping Down to the Necessities


Storing, Shipping, or Selling.

Those are the “buckets”, so to say, that everything of mine is falling into.

Some things are obvious – I’m storing my car, since I can’t ship or pack it… and I don’t quite want to sell it just yet. Some things are less obvious – Climbing Shoes, for example… am I going to get to climb during my trip, or can I safely ship them? Not sure… still working on that.

Most fall pretty easily into one of the buckets, though, so thankfully it’s just become a process of making it all happen. Cleaning up the apartment, physically putting things into the storage unit, and then actually posting and selling the things that I don’t plan on keeping.

It’s… freeing, though a bit melancholy as well. I’m able to step back and look at what I really need, and then get rid of that which I don’t really need. I’m being exceptionally strict about what I put into storage – This is an opportunity for me to make a clean cut in life, an extreme version of when I moved to Oregon, and I don’t want to anchor myself to the past too heavily through this transition. Major sentimental value items are coming with me… but the vast majority of unnecessary extras as getting sold off.

In parallel with this, I’m locking in exactly what I’ll bring with me on my adventure. I did a trial run of what I’d pack, back when I went to Oklahoma, so this side is fairly simply… it just requires a bit of finesse on the final bits, along with locking down what sort of checked bag I’ll be bringing, and what exactly I’ll be putting into it.

Snacks, contact lens solution, my first aid kit… It’ll be a light and small checked bag, to be sure.

And that’s the key here, right? Strip everything down to the necessities. Don’t bring more than I need… but don’t forget to bring the things that are critical. It’s not easy, especially doing this in both the material world (what pants do I bring?) and in the emotional world (what memories do I carry into this next phase?).

Neither has an easy answer… but thankfully I’m navigating it well so far. I have friends and family helping me out, along with airlines and trains and busses and boats helping keep me honest with what I’m carrying along.

At least what I’m carrying physically. The emotional side is a different battle entirely.

May3

The little things in life

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Somehow, this post got lost in the digital world. It’s a bit of a bummer, but I’m glad that I’ve found it now, while moving out and moving on. It’s a good reminder of the good times, and that I really did appreciate my time in this small part of the world.

(Occurring during) September and October, 2023


It’s the little things in life than can make a big difference.

I’m re-reading a book right now on philosophy and psychology, called Man’s Search for Meaning. A coworker recommended it years back, and then I coincidentally found it in my maternal Grandparent’s library while my sister and I were going through their books. It came complete with hand-written highlights from my Grandmother, or possibly Grandfather, making it all the more helpful for me.

The first time I read through it, it made a big impact. Re-reading it, it’s making a huge impact. Little connections are becoming clear, and I’m taking quite a few good lessons from its pages.


One of the lessons is to appreciate the small things in life – not just flowers and views, but the singularly trivial things like walking into my apartment after a day at work. The simple comforts that I have.

In the spirit of appreciating the little things… here’s my opportunity to record those. The views that I get coming home. They’re small, and mundane, but they mean a lot.