Fortune Cookie Wisdom

"From the garden of your dreams many things will blossom." What a perfect fortune cookie to get right before I set off on my sabbatical in search of some dreams! I stopped at Chin's for lunch yesterday between communion visits and errands, and that was the greeting in my cookie.

I do have many dreams for this adventure... both personal and professional. I want to see where my creative soul can take me with writing. I'm hoping to come back with some new ideas and energy for my congregation. There are new ideas for worship waiting for me to explore to bring back here. My goals include writing some devotional material for my congregation, and finding lots of new stories to support sermons in the years to come. I'd LOVE to be able to write some things that can be used beyond my congregation.

But most of all, I really dream of what might be. What might be around the next bend or over the next mountain. What might be in the next town. What might be in my life. I've never been one to just 'stay put' and maintain my way through life. That bores me. It drains me. I want to see what's out there. So let's see what might be.

I certainly hope many things blossom from all these dreams. How can it not?

The Best Laid Plans...

Sigh! Yes, I'm learning a lot about being flexible and making adjustments and still enjoying the adventure of it all. Yesterday, not only did I not have my laptop, but I also had no internet access at work thanks to SBC Yahoo's outage. Can you spell w-i-t-h-d-r-a-w-a-l? How am I ever going to survive all next week and maybe the next without my email? Or other internet stuff? Dang, I have become so addicted! Guess it's a good thing I had a day like yesterday to help me transition into this sabbatical mode.

But I will have plenty of time next week to adjust slowly. Now the RV won't be ready yet either. The needed part for the generator won't be here until Tuesday so hopefully I can pick it up on Thursday. So much for Plan B - can't even RV around here for a while. But I'll have all week to pack and clean so I come back to a clean house in late July. And heck, I'll save some gas money in the process. Ha!

So now it's Plan C - or whatever. I know I'll eventually get on the road. And heck, I'm supposed to be re-learning how to relax, right? That's ok.....but someone may need to check on my sanity once in a while.

Some lessons I don't like

The sabbatical hasn't even begun yet, but it's already a learning process. I'm learning that laptop computers frequently have problems with their a/c jack becoming loose. I'm learning that it becomes progressively worse so that it's harder and harder to charge your battery. I'm learning that if your battery is getting older to start with, this problem drains it dry fast, and that eventually it won't even hold a charge. I'm learning that extended service plans are fine for getting things fixed at no cost, but not in a timely manner.

That's the part that I really don't like. I can get it sent out, but it will take 7-14 business days to get it back IF they don't have to order any parts. If parts are needed, it may be a month. THAT is the worst lesson of all. I am planning to leave next week for this 3 month trip. No way can I possibly go the whole 3 months without my laptop, especially since writing is going to be a large part of my plan.

So IF I can find a place here to do the repairs quicker, I may still get going on time, but with even more expense. Plus the remaining year and a half of my service plan will probably be void. That's another lesson I don't like.

Ohhhhh.... frustration. And flexibility. I suppose I could still send it out for service and hope for the best case scenario - that I'll get it back in 2 weeks and still be able to hit the road before mid-May. Or even 3 weeks would be livable I suppose. I'll need to do a lot of RV'ing around the Midwest then, to still be able to feel like I'm doing something with this wasted time. Oh well. Guess the future posts will reveal the decision!