I’m sitting in the lower section of a locally owned coffee house in Beijing China sipping a non-caffeinated kiwi smoothie. My feet are propped up on a large wooden chest / makeshift table and I’m sitting way back in a vintage-styled, burgundy overstuffed chair. The music coming through the Polk Audio speakers attached to the walls is so nice I’m making a mental note to talk to the management and see if I can buy it before I go. The free wi-fi access is nice and quick. Much better than the free wi-fi available at a certain popular chain coffee place around the corner. At the moment, I hear the sounds of a lot of rushing around upstairs, but I’m the only one here in the basement. It’s quite noisy but it feels very quiet to my soul’s ears.

I’m finally processing some of this trip. We’ve been very busy and this is the first bit of downtime where I don’t feel like sleeping.

Back home, I just sold my home. Everything I own right now is either in luggage here in China, locked away in a 10′ X 10′ Public Storage closet, or in an airport parking space in Colorado. It’s probably as close as I’ll ever feel to homeless and I’m grateful for that. I do have a place to move to when I get back but for now I feel a little like a gypsy.

In this quite-noisy space I’m making little resolutions to myself. I’m resolving ways to be and not be and trying to figure out how to remember to live well and not always be altogether practical.

I really hope they are selling this CD.