This blog post is unraveling from my mind onto a computer screen as I bounce up and down on a speeding bullet train from Paris to the south of France. The fact that my feet crossed “the pond” at this moment is as surprising to me as it is to anyone else. Surprising because I have just spent two years (and a painful amount of money) sitting behind a wheel of a van called “Millicent” and standing behind my mother’s bequeathed plein air easel to paint the horizons in each of the U.S. states. As I write this, my foot pressed the gas pedal of the van for 45,184 miles and crossed 49 states, only 1 left to go – Hawaii! No, the van is not going with me to the final state.
In fact, Millicent has already departed, in search of other horizons with a new owner. Yes, it was a bittersweet moment to say “hasta la vista baby”!
At the exact same time as the sale of Millicent the van, like cascading dominos, my house in Atlanta sold without being listed, and my professorship at the university moved online. They say it comes in threes. This trio, on the same day, figuratively hit me like the train I’m currently riding, scooped me up, and is carrying me to parts unknown.
With the snap of unseen fingers, I am…
“untethered”.
Let me take a deep breath and begin at the beginning of 2024.
Just a few months ago, this time it was my sister and I who were carried to uncharted territory together. We were following the whispering of the still small voice of the heart and also following the roots of our ancient family tree. The previously conceived intuitions were actuated by family members in France, and we quickly departed for our family’s motherland knowing that sensitive conversations should always take place face-á-face rather than by email.
The details of those conversations are for another story…but
suffice it to say that 48 hours after returning to the U.S. from France, there was a knock at my door in Atlanta from a well-known realtor who asked if I would be willing to sell my house to a cash buyer at market rate. She continued that the interested couple was only in Atlanta for one day and posed that they tour my home at 3:30pm. I was stunned by the timing of this unexpected question and found myself saying, “Yes”.
After a 20-minute tour, the purchasing negotiations began and ended successfully just as quickly as they had commenced.
Did I really just say I would sell my house…and van…in the same day?
It seemed right. I felt 100% sure about saying ‘Yes’.
I felt 100% UNsure about what was next.
I also felt suspended in thin air and decided it was best to “lean in” to the uncertainty. At times the uncertainty has wanted to overtake me with worry, but this untethering is opening new doors that I would never otherwise approach. Leaning into the uncertainty is helping me to keep my eyes, heart, and mind open. I say all this, as I’m bouncing down the tracks toward potentially unknown, tentative, and potentially exciting vistas.
There is no current punchline to this story. I am telling it to you as it is unfolding for me. While recounting these events to a friend, she said, “This story gives me faith again and helps me to better understand the power of getting quiet, listening, and saying ‘yes’ to opportunities as they arise.”
For me, this unfolding and untethering story is the definition of faith. Departing from solid ground when the destination is still unclear.
As Christopher Columbus said, “You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
At this moment my train to the south of France has arrived and I’m now disembarking to parts unknown.
“On verra”, as they say in French or “We shall see”!
Christiane Palpant
