Moving

Motion is relative. Isn't that neat?

Stuff about the earth rotating so that, in comparison to the core, we are moving really fast. We don't feel it because everything around us is moving about as fast. Feeling comfortable in a car going 80 because the cars around you are doing 80 and so is your dashboard* and your friends passed out in the back.

*Maybe "our" dashboards. I don't mean to limit things.

Growing up, my family drove from Colorado to Indiana every year for Christmas. It would take us about 21 hours driving and a few more sleeping in a Walmart parking lot. I remember being confused when I was very young: there is a house and street in C Springs that looks enough like my grandma's house and street (which is in Indianapolis) for me to mistake them. I didn't know why it took us so long at Christmas time to get there when, otherwise, we drove by it all the time.

And even still it's an odd feeling to spend hours in the car, feeling motionless, waiting the arrival of some far destination, to finally get there and feel ever presently Here. I've been telling people that I am moving to Chicago, and what I'll experience is Chicago moving to me. Motion is relative.

Before Spokane moves away from us, Mitch, John, Christa, and I have to pack and clean. Nowhere in Newton's laws of motion did I read anything about taking a Spackle knife and hazardous chemicals to the black mold/bacteria living between the shower tiles. Or not knowing what to do about people always leaving -- an exodus from the spot that is me. How to deal with constant loss due to motion. I did not read that.

I like how on a bicycle it feels like I'm moving. The earth is going under my wheels. I can feel the 15ish mph wind in my face. And when I'm riding with someone else, it feels significant that we have zero mph between us. Nobody's sleeping.

Moving to Chicago (via MN to drop off John and Chri$ta) on Saturday, then catching a train to Denver, riding my bike with my mom a week in CO, train back to Chicago. New place. Don't be afraid to call. I'll always be here.