Reinvention -- Part 3

Within the last year, I have started over three separate times.  If you have read Anne Tyler, you recall people wandering to another town and starting over.  Or in "Patron Saint of Liars" (by Ann Patchett), the main character starts over twice. 

Arriving in Japan last summer, I needed to set up IT, figure out transportation, figure out how to get some exercise, outfit a kitchen, make friends, and speak Japanese.  Arriving on the ship in January, there were similar challenges in setting up the IT, figuring out the environment and routine of the ship, figuring out how to get exercise, and make friends.  No need to outfit a kitchen since everything was prepared for us. 

And now we are back in DC/Arlington -- and starting again in many ways.  We are in the same house, but it looks great with all the little things put away for our tenants.  And I am still at George Washington Univ., but with a new role (professor) and a new office.  I have some of the same challenges as in Japan and on the ship -- almost daily trips to the IT help desk, experimenting with bicycling and Metro to work.  I am not car free, but car light seems to be working.  Back to the gym for exercise, running gently on the high school track, walking, and gardening have my heart rate at 56 and my blood pressure at 108.

If you suspect food allergies, you can one-by-one eliminate foods to see what matters.  Or you can cut down to the basics of turkey, rice, and applesauce, then add back foods one-by-one.  In our case, we cut back to a pretty minimalist existence traveling for a month with just what we could carry.  And we have returned to a very uncluttered house and life -- giving us the opportunity to thoughtfully add things back in one at a time.

Should we subscribe to the New York Times? Washington Post? Paper or electronic?  If the rule of thumb is that you don't need any thing that you have not used in a year, everything in the attic and basement should go.  I am even resisting opening the few boxes that we shipped home from Japan and some of the luggage brought back from Semester at Sea -- where would we put those things?  I have great hope for reinvention, part 3.