Ten and a half hours until we leave Orcas Island, heading for Vancouver B.C.  There we will meet Patrick, (my younger brother) who we will spend the night with and who will bring us to the airport. From there the real adventure begins.  Honestly neither Birdie nor myself have any idea what to expect, never having been anywhere like Indonesia before.  We will be in Bali until may 17th at which point we will fly to Thailand.  We have purchased one way tickets to each of these locations just having faith that life will present the right course for us.  Aside from the obvious need to escape the overwhelming disappointment in the direction our society is headed (and the pressures of maintaining a life on an island with a high cost of living and minimal opportunities for getting ahead), we decided to travel because both of us have been taking care of others for as long as we can remember, often to our own detriment.   It is time to take care of our own souls and in the process develop the framework for our next grand experiment.  Part of the plan for developing our new strategy for life is studying the way spirituality is incorporated into the everyday lives of the people we meet along the way and learning how to reincorporate spirituality into our own lives on a moment to moment basis.  Interestingly, even though we are totally sure that we are on the right course, we keep getting handed challenge after challenge.  As if the universe were testing our resolve.  Well Universe, we’re going,  thank you for the numerous ways you have proved beyond doubt that we must undertake this adventure or lose ourselves. Even with  the utmost compassion it is sometimes hard to understand why things happen the way they do. The test then becomes the ability to maintain the courage of your convictions, while still being fluid enough to adapt to what life throws at you. I’ve been writing in the midst of a flurry of last minute packing and now have seven and a half hours til our ferry. I think i need to go to sleep.  Love to you all.