Overcoming Lows Together in the Voodoo Room
Life-Work Balance Reimagines Life
Tandem Biking Is Actually as Cute as it Sounds
Overcoming Lows Together in the Voodoo Room
So, we booked the India House Hostel for our first two nights. It was cheap. It was hostel-y. It was honestly pretty dope. We get to the front desk and they tell us we can’t check in for a few hours. I had a zoom call to do so I set up my laptop by the pool to prep for what was about to be the worst zoom meeting of my life. For real. See, I created an innovative virtual childhood centered social justice education fellowship program and little did I know it was about to fall apart into little pieces. It was something I had worked on for over two years with a team based on over ten years of my heart-work with all my mentors. It’s a long story but the best part of what happened is what happened after this shit-show.
In what felt like one of the lowest points of my life, we then had to check in, and the guy at the front desk informed us that we were given “The Voodoo Room.” I went “Okay, let’s see it.” We walk through the hostel, out the back, and then up a crooked piece of wood to two little one room huts over a pond. It looked kind of cute from the outside. The door creaked open. There was a giant painting of the devil, skulls everywhere, red paint marks across the walls like blood. For a moment we stood there and I looked at Kait. I knew everything was going to be alright…if I just quickly went back to the front desk and checked if they had any other rooms available. Turns out the hut next to our was open and it was not voodoo themed..it was tropical vacation themed. That will work. That is what I needed. Kait was there for me on that day like I have never experienced. As Mr. Roger’s used to say “When there is a disaster, look for the helpers.” And how he might have said “When you get put in a voodoo room, you gotta find a different room.”
Life-Work Balance Reimagines Life
This was our first attempt at bringing our work on the road. Well, Kait had to work some of the trip and I acted like I had work even though I was on three weeks of vacation between jobs. We checked into our nice AirB+B, Kait got to working, and I got to walking a few blocks to get us some groceries. I remember thinking about how maybe this is one way in which we can be free by being able to work from anywhere. And how work is currently being reimagined by a new generation that values new experiences over security. Now more than ever the idea of buying a house in the suburbs and living there until you die is becoming less attractive. As lifestyles change and people feel more adventurous to live and work in a variety of places, the entire concept of work is being transformed. I appreciate how Kait opened my mind to this lifestyle. Before I met her, I had only really worked at brick-and-mortar jobs where I drove to the same place everyday for work and then went back home. It re-inspires my imagination to see the possibilities that are opening up for us as a couple as we both have become established in digital nomad careers. Love is opening up my life. Kait is gently showing me life beyond anything I imagined for myself. And I love it!
Tandem Biking is Actually as Cute as it Sounds
We found the central park of New Orleans and soon were loaded onto a Swan Boat, as couples do. About a split second after taking off from the shore I realized I had to poop. So, we re-docked and I went to do just that. We then swan boated together. It was nice. I did not know if anything could be as romantic as swan boating.
Until a few days later when we came back and decided it was time for us to tandem bike. We got a picture on the tandem bike at rest right before we “took flight” just in case the flight didn’t go so well. The picture looked good. We looked solid on that tandem bike together. The first attempt at taking off was like a baby bird stepping out of the nest the first morning of flying lessons. It was as Ludacris says “Jiggy jiggy jerkin” as we found our balance together and rode off slowly into the distance! I was so relieved that we didn’t crash and we started to find a rhythm with it. Until up ahead there was a large tree branch in the way over the sidewalk and I yelled “duck” to Pidge and she bent down just in time a millimeter enough for it to graze over her. She is one tall ostrich. We made it to our destination of “The Bird’s Nest Cafe” and rested our butts there for a while before riding gracefully to the lake for some video coverage and then safely back to the rentals place. What at first was most nerve-racking was now my favorite part. We learned to work together to get the cleanest gliding starts. I loved feeling that synchronicity with Kait as we glided almost off the ground together like… Flyin Ostriches.
