Way back when, winter weekends in Vermont was our family jam. Dave and I would collect the kids from Montessori on Friday afternoons and weave our way up to Killington for skiing, snow shoeing, comfort fooding, fire-place gathering and hot tubbing. We'd play with our departure time and our pit stops, trying to beat the Merrit Parkway traffic. On good days, the trip would take 4 hours. Harry was 3 when we rented our first season's condo at Pinnacle, making Elsa 4 and Hugh 7. Getting into a carseat every Friday afternoon, after a long week of school for a looooong drive to Vermont, was not what you would call ideal timing, so Dave and I would get creative with snacks, novelties, and games to be had for each drive.
Mind you, this was before each kid had a phone and Dave's iPad was our latest gadget AND this was in the era of Montessori where sugar and processed foods were not a big part of the our diet. Needless to say, we would hand out juice boxes and snacks (more like throw them because our Ford Flex was the size of a suburban, it just looks like a station wagon) that came in single sized, colorful, cartoon oriented wrapped foil designs- ie; think goldfish or go-go apple sauce, and, on occasion, a Doritos or Lays product may find their way into the mix. With the kids sugared up, we'd play games in the car before starting a movie. Eye-Spy, The Alphabet game, 20 questions and, my favorite, What to pack in my trunk for Africa. (If you're not familiar with this game, here's a quick synopsis; one person starts with the an item s/he would pack in their trunk for Africa starting with the letter A, the next person then shares what s/he will put into the trunk that starts with the letter B, while also including the first person's item. And so on and so forth. All participants have to listen and remember what's being packed into the trunk, while also coming up with items that follow the sequence of the alphabet.)
You may be asking what is the relevance of long drives up to Vermont and packing a trunk for Africa got to do with my first post of 2023? (And no- we are not moving and there are no big trips in our future.) I am celebrating a birthday and just keeping the theme of fun & games that I "enforced" with Dani-Says over the weekend- we laughed, we cried, we played salad bowl and codenames. With January and its call for new year intentions and birthday wishes, I felt it important to clarify what the heck I've packed over the years and consider what I am still using, what I have given away or discarded and what I'm on the lookout for as I pack, re-pack and carry my proverbial trunk. Please forgive me and indulge me in the somewhat annoying, but potentially lyrical, approach to what I will now be packing for my next trip around the sun as a 48 year old.
Awe of arrival, abundance, appreciation
Beauty, benevolence, Beau
Clarity, confidence, compassion, conviction, creativity, consciousness,
Coco& Cybil-if she promises not to bark
Delight, dancing, dreams, devotion, Dave
Embodiment, engagement, esteem, Elsa
Fortitude, fire
Generosity, gestation, grit
Honesty, home, harmony, Harry, Hugh
Intention, investing, inquiring
Joy
Kundalini, kismet
Love, laughter, light
Mastery, magic, Margot
Nuance, negotiation, nectar
Oration, open-heartedness
Philosophy, priority, paint
Queendom
Reverence, restoration
Sunshine, study, song, subtlety, star-gazing
Trust
Unleashing, underdogs
Vitality
Wonder, will, words
(e)Xhilaration
Yes!, yoga
(ea)Ze
Expanding on games as the theme, a few phrases come to mind. You can't win if you don't play and If you don't aim, you'll never hit anything. Sure! I like to win- Who doesn't? But really, it's about playing IN the game. Being present, listening, engaging, sharing, trying and having fun. The intentions in my "trunk"are what keep me in the game. If I'm not paying attention to what brings me joy or inspires me to reach farther, test my comfort levels, stretch my beliefs- then what the heck is the point of all this? The game is always changing, the target is forever moving, and if I remain present to my internal pulse, aware of what feeds me and what frightens me, and following through with action and intention on whatever is on that list, I'm winning. That doesn't mean I'll ever check anything off the list, who knows- maybe I will, but it does mean that I am awake, aware and moving towards something that tastes like fulfillment.
So, here is 48 and I'm leaning IN to it. 4 is my favorite number, 8 is my life path number (The sum of all of the numbers of your birthday, broken down to a single digit format). The energy of the number 48, according to https://affinitynumerology.com/, includes imagination, effective communication, tolerance, joyfulness, optimism, and dynamism. (I think we're onto something...) As I celebrate what makes 48 a good year, I know that I've got a lot of work to do and that excites me! As my family's landscape keeps changing and Dave and I continue to prepare/accept/adapt to a premature empty nesting, this game is ON! Recreating our life together as a couple, writing my first book, figuring out the best practices to long distance parenting for, potentially, all three children, renovating our house, completing my second 200hr yoga teacher training, developing retreats, saying YES! to workshops on writing, yoga, painting, intuition, expanding and exploring, and keeping close connections with those near and dear to my heart. Can I get an Amen and Allelujah?
Here's my invitation to you: if you haven't already, please consider what you're packing in your trunk to Africa (or Mars for that matter:) and feel free to share your lists, dreams and designs on what 2023 looks like for you. I'd love to hear from you.
With a side of self-indulgence & sincere appreciation,
St. Sunshine
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