AncienTrails

Winter                                                     Settling Moon

We’ve been here three weeks. Our bodies have acclimatized, though there is still more for them to do. It amazes me that this is a natural process, one borne of feedback loops. Hey, not enough oxygen? No. O.K. More hemoglobin. Also, let’s make sure we get plenty of rest. More fatigue. Good.

Settling in is like letting a compressed spring gradually loosen. All the household items packed away gradually come out. All those matters tied to a particular state get replaced: new license plates, new title, new address, new phone number. A process of subtraction, the move itself, becomes additive: a new doctor, a new grocery store, a new mechanic. At some point the additive process becomes simply life, albeit in a different physical location.