Yep, all the white clothing is rolled up in plastic bags for sitting in the temples. The temple slippers have been bought. The little stuff for the kids we meet along the way. The portable meditation bench, borrowed, centers the big bag, nestled in my sleeping bag. The mosquito net, the fancy water filter, the digestive aids, the several pouches to hold passport, copies of passport (with special VISA for India), credit card, cash (mostly in small bills), nuts, dried fruit, little packets of cocoa, coffee, anti-bacterial wipes. On and on. All the instructions have been followed. We even snagged International Major Medical Insurance at the last minute just in case. After all, we’re both 70 years old! Two crones galavanting through ancient spirituality.

Flight out from Indianapolis at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow. Seattle overnight. Brother-in-law John picks me up. To see 94-year-old, recently widowed Mom and sisters on Saturday, before Claudia picks me up for dinner and the Red Lion airport hotel for an early start on Sunday, 6:30 a.m., to Thailand with a stop in South Korea.

Ten days in and around Chiang Mai, Thailand. Bangkok, briefly. Then three weeks touring temples in India and Nepal. Then back to Thailand, two weeks in special Vipassna retreat. Then one more week decompressing. All with a group of Buddhist meditators.

We just added that last week to our trip, so we won’t return to Seattle until March 29. Geez! I can feel myself preparing. I’ve been feeling myself preparing for two months now. It’s astonishing how the unconscious takes over, absorbs it all, mulls it about, stirs, floods, reduces, crystalizes — into a new state of consciousness of which I am not yet aware but can feel settling, into my bones.

Who will I be, on return? I have no idea.

So it’s sayonara, adios, later, man! until further notice. No posts while gone.

And if you didn’t see this sudden switcheroo the first time I talked about it, here you go:

Alert to Reader: “Do what you’re most afraid of!” calls me once again, one week from today.