19 November 2023, Day 529

Blessings and greetings from Carbondale Colorado! I am so happy to be sharing with you today.

Life for me has gone from my primary focus being healing my wrist (from injuring it in mid-September) to currently being in full-on engagement living with/in a small unit of 4 individuals.  And we are each, and all very individual!

The most succinct way I can describe how individual we are, is to say that you could not pick four people more diverse in ways we express ourselves, make decisions, use time and resources and interact with one another.

I am thoroughly enjoying the challenges of navigating these relationships, individually and collectively. Recently we instituted family meetings. We have agreed to have bi-weekly (every 2 weeks) family pow-wows complete with pancake breakfast. Yumm! These allow us to bring forward any. everything to be discussed amongst the four of us and to express appreciations for one another. 

Our first go-round was very successful.  In my opinion, we have potential to be a very high-functioning, intentional family-of-choice. I continue to feel welcome to sleep on the living room sofa, even though it impacts everyone’s movement in the home whilst I am asleep. Feeling so comfortable in this sort of situation is an experience I do not take for granted.  I am deeply, deeply grateful for the sanctuary, especially over the winter as temperatures drop significantly and snowfall becomes more frequent and lasting.

One thing I’ve enjoyed alot being part of this family-of-choice is the freedom I have had to decorate the flat for holidays. Thanksgiving is due the end of this week and I have had fun placing tokens of this particular holiday in the common living areas. 

As much as many Americans don’t seem to appreciate  or trust China all that much, I, for one, am very grateful for the ‘dollar stores’ as I am able to easily access well-enough-made decorations – each often for little more than one American dollar.  These will last from year to year with a modicum of care and I will decorate my homes in future with them as well!

We will be hosting a few of my hosts’ friends for the actual Thanksgiving holiday dinner.  This is something that I have enjoyed doing even, and maybe especially, when I lived in Hong Kong for 35 years.  

Growing up,  my parents regularly invited 2-4 servicemen from a nearby Air Force base in Denver, Colorado to join our family for Thanksgiving dinner.   As a kid, this had a lot of meaning for me as we seldom had anyone over to our house for any reason.  The idea of sharing a meal and good will with ‘strangers’ has stayed with me since then.  

I am aware that many feel Thanksgiving here in the States is a sham holiday.  That most of us are unaware of the real meanings of the ‘holiday’ and that the narratives about the holiday are false and ignore the truth of how colonists exploited, dominated and decimated indigenous peoples throughout North America (before and after the first Thanksgiving).

True.  All true.  And, if we can conceive of a narrative evolving, what if we were able – as a nation, including diverse and wondrous various cultures and peoples from ALL over the world – to believe that we ALL, and each of us here in N America (Canada observes Thanksgiving before we do) have every reason to be thankful for the tremendous blessings we have and have known for generations – regardless of our origins. 

Yes, inequities abound.  Yes, narratives about the his/herstories of non-dominant culture peoples have never and neither been honestly told, taught and re-dressed.  Yes, that work remains to be addressed and re-dressed.  Indeed.

And so, as I partake in a day and this way of gratitude, shared on a day in myriad ways in many homes, community and senior centres and other places where people gather to share a meal and a few hours of communicating with each other (at least before the, for some, traditional football game watching commences), I will be very deeply aware of every blessing and gratitude I have experienced throughout my life.

If you are receiving this RoadTrip Chronicle, you are one of my blessings and I am genuinely grateful for ‘life’ having brought us together, if only for a brief moment, or for years.  Your presence in my consciousness has made a difference, else I’d not remember, or choose to be in touch with you, in these ways.

May your own Thanks-Giving (if, when and however you choose to celebrate it) bring you pleasure in acknowledging all you have known, learned, experienced, enjoyed and become aware of in life .. so far.  ❤️

One significant gratitude I have is that the reconstructive surgery 8 weeks ago on my wrist was a success.  I am now diligently rehabilitating for a return of flexibility, range of motion and strength in my left hand, arm and shoulder.

After Thanksgiving, I intend to find part-time work.  I am keen to have a physically-active, public-interfacing job or two for the winter, at least.  More on that as I create this part of my life.

Additionally, I am interested in property-managing or house-sitting in this area for someone who will be away from home for at least 6 months.  I have lived this way all over the world for 16+ years now and enjoy caretaking in exchange for a decent place to live rent-free.   I know the exchange of my care, upkeep and security for the property and belongings is a fair exchange for the home owners and I am confident suggesting this arrangement.  So far, no takers. 

Part of the equation here is that there are more people living in Carbondale than there are properties available.  Too, much like in many other places in the USA at present, many, many, many properties are now owned by foreign companies and/or investors.  Many of those properties lie fallow (unoccupied) in large, relatively newly-constructed housing estates all over the country.  I have seen this as I traveled over the past almost-two years.   This greatly inflates  property prices in communities where this is happening.

Investors (foreign and domestic) are also buying older homes in many communities for twice, 3x their book values; and home owners (eager to get out from under high-interest mortgages) are selling in record numbers.

On other topics of current interest to me, I listened recently to two things I’d like to share with you.  Both are being considered by the AncientFuture.Today Mastery Community Task Force.  And, both are relevant to people everywhere, in my opinion.

The first is called the Solutions Summit 2023.  This recently was offered by a well-regarded consultant to governments and organisations focusing on solutions to issues they face.  Her name is Eleanor LeCain (author:  Breakthrough Solutions).  There were four key topics addressed:  Climate; Health; Economics; Democracy.   LeCain uses the term ‘Solutionairies’  for people/organisations actually DOING specific things in these areas – bringing forward new ideas, creating resolutions to crises and challenges and developing innovative approaches.   Recordings and a report based on the Summit findings will be available at some point soon on this website:  solutionssummit2023.com .

If you are interested in ‘solutions’ to long-standing ‘problems, issues’, I encourage you to register (if it’s still possible, as the Summit has ended). This may allow you to access video recordings and the report.  If you find you cannot access the information, please let me know (dswilcox@netvigator.com).  I will find out and let you know how you can.

The second share I’d like to offer to you today is a podcast from Hidden Brain.  I listened to this yesterday and feel that it merits attention from people who are ready to have a robust, supportive life narrative.  Here is the link:  https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/healing-2-0-change-your-story-change-your-life/        

Am interested in your thoughts if/after you listen to it.  Am inviting you to share with me at dswilcox@netvigator.com.

A few photos (below) from my 8-week stay (so far) here in Carbondale, Colorado .. a place I am happy to be and to have ‘landed’ for a while to come.  As said, when I have a place where I can host you, I’ll let you know and look forward to your visit.  No idea when this might be possible, and do feel it will eventually materialise!  And until then, my Love. 🌹

                                FROST ON THE BALCONY LEDGE

LOCAL STREET ART IN CARBONDALE. COLORADO

WEMAGOOAH / MT SOPRIS .12,965’ ELEVATION