There's good news and there's bad news

The news today: “Woman killed when gas pump explodes.” That’s something I didn’t need to know before embarking on a long road trip where I will be pumping a lot of gas. The daily news can be scary.

Being informed is good, but being inundated with bad news isn’t. Do you remember the kind of jokes that start out with “there’s good news and there’s bad news?”

I sort of wish the media could do that. The bad news is that the economy took another turn for the worst. The good news is there is plan in place to end the war in Iraq. The bad news is that cancer is on the rise. The good news is they found a cure for Alzheimer's.

My last post was pretty much the bad news without the good. Yuck! You can listen to CNN or CBS and get all the bad news you can handle, or read the newspaper. Somebody killed somebody, somebody embezzled a trillion dollars, taxes are going up, unemployment is going up, and, whoa, enough!

My intention was to bring a smile when you read what I write, maybe inspire you to take a risk, undertake more than you think you can possibly do, otherwise you may never do all that you can. The bad news is I didn’t do that. I brought you the bad news. But the good news is I am feeling better today and it is a bright sunny day in Indian Rocks Beach, well, that's good news for me anyway!

I am here in my welcome center home, sitting at my computer and thinking…. I have not been just waiting around for my ship to come in because I think it has been anchored off shore for a while now. But, I am thinking that I will soon throw off the bowlines, sail away from this safe harbor, catch a tailwind, explore, discover, and float. Can I float in my Honda? On pavement? I think so. I’m going to try anyway. I am looking forward to a change of scenery and leaving my materialistic habits behind that distract me from true bliss. (The bad news, my sneaky materialistic thinking can ambush me unexpectedly bringing forth thoughts of all I left behind when I got divorced, my grandmother’s sewing bench, the place mats that my cousin gave me, and the dresser I so carefully refinished and painted. It may be just stuff, but I miss it.

A few years back, there was a hurricane headed straight for our town, or so the TV weatherman said. We would evacuate, of course, leave our little barrier island for high ground on the other side of the bridge. I remember taking a last look around our home, trying to decide what I should take before the storm actually managed to wash away the house and all its contents. What was there that I couldn't live without? What should I pack into the car and take with us? I looked around again and decided that there was really nothing I couldn't live without. I'd just have to risk it. Yes, I loved my things and I would miss them, but I could live just as well without.

So I took a bottle of wine and a photo album, locked the door, and we headed for safety. The storm hit 3 hours south of Indian Rocks Beach. We barely got a breeze. Everything in my life stayed in tack. But a personal storm of epic proportions hit last year, unexpectedly, leaving me homeless and with few of my things. I guess, now that I think about it, I can live just as well without.

But I digress. (The bad news)

(The good news) I have a home with enough to sustain me, but now I want to know what I am really capable of. Take a different sort of risk and spend three months on the mainland, on my own, with no more than I can fit in my Honda. Actually, travel has never scared me. Staying home and not going anywhere scares me. My mother endowed me with a love of travel. For her, traveling wasn’t just entertainment or a leisure activity, it was an accomplishment.

So I am anxious to see what I can accomplish.