Getting Ready

I emptied my backpack today. I use it to store random things throughout the year, but in about three weeks I will be packing it for my summer.

My goal is to keep it under 30 lbs. That means I can pack about two pairs of jeans, a sweatshirt, a dress, five shirts, some underwear, some socks, hiking shoes, a bed-sheet, a towel, some basic toiletries, and a few books. And of course... a notebook and flash drive. I love to read books and then leave them in places. I always imagine who will pick them up. I left Camus in Belfast once.

My friend Kelli and I will have a rental car for the first two weeks so technically we won't be truly backpacking. We will be staying in a hostel or two but I imagine we will mostly stay in bed & breakfast style set-ups.

The real deal backpacking will begin on June 27 when I say goodbye to Kelli and the rental car. She will fly home and I will be on my own. Though I am looking forward to those first two weeks with Kelli, driving stick shift on the left side of the road, I am just as excited to be alone with my backpack. There is nothing like a backpack full of dirty clothes and public transportation. I will take Bus Eireann from Dublin to Doolin; I am definitely a West Coast girl when it comes to Ireland.

Right now I am listening to Radiohead and thinking about what Ireland may have in store for me this time. Each time I go there, it is harder for me to leave. Once I even brought someone home with me. I have promised my family and friends that I will not do that again. Some things need to stay in summer.

I have some pretty cool things going on here in Ohio right now; things that make me feel torn.

But not torn enough to make me stay, just torn enough to know I still have at least one good year left in Ohio.

After that, who knows. Ireland is much like a first love that I never quite get over and honestly, Telemachus would look quite adorable rolling around the hills of County Clare, his mother resting on a blanket nearby, pen in mouth, soul dew covered and happy.