The starting-point of critical elaboration is the consciousness of what one really is, and is ‘knowing thyself’ as a product of the historical process to date, which has deposited in you an infinity of traces, without leaving an inventory…therefore it is imperative at the outset to compile such an inventory. - Antonio Gramsci, The Prison Notebooks: Selections 1929-1935
I’ll try to keep this brief so as not to bore you and to satisfy my ever-increasing desire to unplug.
We’re here. In our spacious, nearly empty Seattle home. JumbleSon will be starting school soon. So will I. (We’re making 5 Orange Potatoes’ Elderberry Syrup today (using Agave Nectar) so we’ll be ready for the back-to-school germs.)
Our things remain in Boulder. And, I’m OK with that. In fact, I’m not sure I want them back. Life here is so very simple without all our gear.
My days are spent trying to choose the most perfect lunchbox systems for both of us (that’s an entire post of its own), reading book after book with JumbleSon on our shady front porch, studying Festivals Together and Halloween costume hunting, visiting thrift stores in search of treasures that we need but don’t have waiting for us in Boulder (like baskets … I’m so done with plastic containers). We visit different libraries many times each week. And of course, coffee shops (with seating) nearly daily. We walk along the ship canal and sit under tall trees, waving at the boats & kayaks gliding by.
I find myself watching JumbleSon play, eat, climb trees, draw, etc. with a goofy grin on my face. My heart is so full. I wonder if this bliss isn’t how most parents spent their newbie days – watching their quiet, peaceful newborns (something, sadly, I never have the pleasure of doing). I am drinking in every ounce of him, and wanting no distractions. Us. Just us. Time alone together in these last lazy days.
At the same time, I’ve started acquiring and reading my texts for school. I remain terrified, but so grateful for the opportunity I’ve been given to stretch my mind. With that comes the need for integration of my Selves – my Mama/Wife Self and my Student/Teacher Self. This will take all the energy I have for a while.
And so, like many bloggers before me, I will close JumbleBerry Jam for Inventory until further notice.
I love and miss all of my friends here very much. So please, if you are interested in keeping in touch with me, please let me know. I will check in with your blog from time to time (until my Reader explodes 
). And hope that we can stay connected until I can post regularly here and on your blogs again.
Thank you so much for being here for me these past 9 months!!
