It is a Wonderful Life (2 Weeks Home, Already)
I woke up this morning in familiar (and comforting surroundings), Racy Verna, as we are still partners in this post tour together. Steph continues to unpack her holds, clean her insides and deal with a years worth of tour and life stuff inside 28 feet. You never know how dirty 28 feet can get from grime, dust and 11,000 miles of athletic action until one begins the “big cleanse”.
I continue (now over 5 days) taking her R41P logos off. This has been a marathon of emotions and stories, heating and removing (along with all the skin on my fingers) sponsor and supporter logos. So many conversations, emails, meetings and pure love of the endeavor went into each and ever one of the logo’s. Don’t even get me started on the names of family, friends and R41P supporters who donated generously to have their name on the RV and what that was like, to take them off. I was like a Mother who doesn’t want their kids to leave, so she keeps their room exactly the same for 20 years, just to feel better. That’s me to the core, willing to keep Racy all logo’d, packed with road stuff and memories, all the while still trying to tell myself she’ll sell with everything still in and attached.
Luckily Steph is much more able to “let go” and keep the train rolling along towards unpacking, cleaning and getting her ready for her brand new owners! I’m getting better, it just takes a bit longer as I heat, stretch and scorch more skin, all in the name of post tour action.
We had to go over the Lions Gate Bridge yesterday to get some expert advice (actually we were looking for some help) on some glue remover as I’d been making a mess of removing the adhesive left behind from my expert logo removal of the last 4 days. The memories of two weeks ago and how quickly it had flown by to today made me feel a bit sad. As I had remembered the time it had taken to get sponsors onboard removing logos, just the same amount of time and sweat had been dripped from our bodies, to get ready for the run portion of this run journey. And here we were, crossing over Lions Gate Bridge 2 weeks later, on a quest to see a man about some glue remover.
It’s funny because both of us have talked extensively about how we’re feeling and does it feel right to be home now. The answer is an emphatic “YES” it feels right, perfectly right. Not because we don’t miss the running (ok I do, Steph’s loving the break), traveling to a new town everyday, presenting to more pint-sized eco-warriors and just knowing what we’re doing out on the road each day. There is a flow to that way of life and believe me, we’ve been in the flow for the better part of 2 ½ years. The river current has been very, very good to us.
We always would say on tour, “wow that was a fast week”, or, “that month just flew by”. On tour it felt right, as this was our pace and knew that each day was so full, it made sense that a week felt like a month and a month felt like half a year (from the intensity of each moment). We didn’t think the feeling would be the same on the “other side”, life after completing. We knew it would happen, just not as fast as it had during the tour.
So here we are, only 14 full days since beginning at 7am in the BC Ferries parking lot in Horseshoe Bay and with our posse’ of R41P peeps, began the journey towards today, in essence.
Our gratitude continues to travel deeper with each passing day as we realize (because of this emotional journey “de-touring the tour”), just how much was given by ALL in order to make it to this spot in real time (Racy Verna’s comforting kitchen/living room table) two finger typing a “2 weeks back already” blog, for you, our most valued Run For One Planet supporter.
Thanks for continuing to believe in the dream and for being in our lives. Maybe send some tissues as soon as we sell Racy. It’ll be a wet one folks.
Thanks for continuing the blog. It’s been great reading about the post-run events. Best wishes to the R41P team.
Comment by Andy — Wednesday, May 27, 2009 @ 2:42 pm
Congratulations Matt and Steph, you’ve made us so proud to be part of the R41P team. We really hoped to get to Vancouver for the homecoming but it wasn’t meant to be. Now, reading the blog entries and getting all weepy, maybe it was for the best? Seriously, we see the effect of your visit and message you left us with almost every day. Lots of work to do, but we really believe that small steps are adding up!
Hugs until we meet again, Bonnie & Tim
Comment by Bonnie & Tim — Tuesday, June 9, 2009 @ 12:28 pm