LNT #1: Plan ahead and prepare

The week leading up to our departure from Oregon was a logistical and emotional high speed corkscrew roller coaster.  Molly and I are extremely fortunate to have such a warm blanket of support from our friends and family to help us move forward with this journey.  Thanks to Curt and Kaeko for watching Bruno and bringing him into your home.  We know he is happy with sister Rowsy, plenty of treats, and beautiful walks on the ranch.  Thank you to Chuck and Sandra for helping organize next summers wedding housing and venue logistics and helping to ease housing pressures by offering house shut-down services.  Thank you to our many friends - Storms, Benny, Tuck and Hope who traveled to say hello - for sharing great meals, beach vibes and fun twilight park chilling in the evenings leading up to our departure.  Time with you saved us from insanity and reminded us of how great our buds are!  Thank you to Josh and Becky for loaning us tools, vehicles, and feeding our stressed bodies as scrambled for something to go as planned.  Thank you to mama Nancy for being present, offering realistic options, and always stoked for our adventure.  

There are many things to remember from this move, but a theme is preparation.  I am always surprised by how applicable the 1st Leave No Trace guideline is, particularly outside a wilderness setting.  In the front country (and backcountry, I suppose) it may be interpreted as a Leave No Waste guideline - not wasting time, resources, and energy.  

Planning ahead is a tricky practice and is often at odds with presence; if you are always planning, how do you embrace the moment and be aware of your surroundings and yourself?  One aspect of the art of living lies in the balance of being just prepared enough to know how things might unfold given your circumstances and to make adjustments in the moment because the situation calls for something different than you originally planned.  Planning for the sake of sticking to that plan will rarely work, but planning allows you to be knowledgeable enough about a topic or a situation to know which way you can adjust your plan to meet the needs of those involved.  This balance has countless implications for our housing search, upcoming travels, and certainly in the classroom.  Planning is critical!  The LNT brainchildren sure know it! But I find solace in knowing over-planning does exist and it is often at the expense of the learning opportunities for the people involved - students.

As we currently fly at 600+mph over over pacific, we have planned to not head into downtown Tokyo for the infamous robot show… who knows if that plan will actually stick.

We are wide awake on the plane after a restless 3 hr slumber last night.    We are excited to settle into Hanoi in the coming two weeks without major obligations, and keep up the adventure.