Kloncke

Wow.  Today I fly to Barcelona.  I don’t know when I’ll be back.  Spain might keep me for a while.

Miraculously, everyone has given me their blessing to go.  What a gift!

I don’t have very much to say, really.  Most of you know the loose reasons for the trip: studying Buddhist meditation; learning Spanish; traveling; participating in various intentional, resource-sharing communities.  Learning different ways of living.  Apprenticing.  Adventuring.  Trying to establish attitudinal habits that will anchor me for decades to come.  And for me, going to a new place is a great way of jump-starting my beginner’s mind.  But even with those general goals as guides, I really have no idea what to expect in the coming year.  Which is exciting — not in the way that a bolt of lightning is exciting, but more like the ebbing at the shore that reveals all the tidepools.  If that makes sense.  I don’t know, I also just really love tidepools, ever since I was little.

Now, let’s talk logistics for a second.  I’m not bringing my computer to Spain.  I’ll have an international phone, but it’ll basically be for coordinating travel while I’m there, or in case of emergency.  I am bringing my trusty stationery and stamps, and I would LOVE to write you letters and postcards when I can.  Just email me your address at katie (dot) loncke (at) gmail (dot) com (which is a new gmail account), and when I make it to an internet cafe, I’ll be all over it.

On the blogospheric tip, I have to give my warmest, strongest recommendation for the most bad-ass fantastic website you’ve ever seen in your life: brownfemipower’s Flip Flopping Joy.  It’s not in my blogroll because I don’t know her, like, personally (though someday…maybe someday…one can hope!), but she’s seriously one of my favorite writers of all time.  An extraordinary teacher and a major inspiration for this project, that’s for sure.

As Kloncke comes to an end (or goes into hibernation — who knows), I want to say thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to it — through comments, emails, links, or simply encouraging me to write.  Lately a few people have said some really kind things about this space, and my earlier blogging at cambridge common, and I just appreciate it so much.  To know that my thoughts have helped bring someone else a little peace or inspiration is…it’s maybe like when you’re a baby, and you’re playing with one of those puzzles with, like, only four or five big pieces that fit into the holes to teach you shapes, or animals, or whatever, and you put one of the pieces into its corresponding slot.  You just sense that something is right with the world.  You look at the filled, wholesome shape for a few seconds…and then you take the piece out of its hole and start testing it in all the other spaces all over again.  Yeah, it’s kinda like that.  An adventure of the best kind.

Sending you all so much love, and wishing you the best in all things for the coming year,

katie

———

To live would be an awfully big adventure.

–Peter Pan