Splitting Minutia

I suppose I could do without pencils and paper for a month but I don’t want to so I’ll be packing one pound’s worth of those items. Without them I’d be below my self-imposed ten pound limit and I thought long and hard about it. There have been so many tiny details to fuss over, the right clothing for a wide range of possible weather conditions, adapters and chargers for our devices, essential bank cards, boarding passes and and passports, that it has left us exhausted. It is going to be such a relief to get on the plane.

I remember my painting teacher, Fred Lipp, telling me how he worked on these large but incredibly subtle paintings for years and at some point, realizing that he was “splitting minutia,” he quit painting altogether. Of course he returned but his story emphasized the pitfalls trying to get everything in order.

We took our last walk in the US today although we are probably in for some moving sidewalk action tomorrow.

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