Debbie: Is this really our first collaboration? What about our three children?
Sam: That was different.
Debbie: You’re right; it was.
Sam: This is doing creative work together.
Debbie: And you don’t mind me being your editor? It’s not that easy.
Sam: You mean because of our different approach to quotation marks and periods and spaces at the end of sentences?
Debbie: No, because sometimes I don’t love every word that you write. Your prose is generally very, very good. But sometimes you are a little repetitive and not entirely clear.
Sam: What?!!
Debbie: OK, never mind. I shouldn’t have said that. You are an amazing and prolific first-time blogger. I only want to encourage you.
Sam: That sounds better.
Debbie: I take this blog very seriously, you know.
Sam: I do too.
Debbie: I have high standards.
Sam: I’ve noticed.
Debbie: I’m not entirely sure where the blog is going but I think it’s important to articulate what we’re experiencing.
Sam: How honest do you think we should be about how we’re really feeling one month into our Gap Year?
Debbie: Giggle.
Sam: Seriously, how much should we reveal?
Debbie: Well, as the resident blogging expert I would advise us to be authentic… but not to reveal everything. I don’t want people to know how discombobulated I feel, for example.
Sam: That will probably pass when we have established a better routine.
Debbie: But isn’t that the point? That we’re breaking out of our familiar routines?
Sam: Yes and no. Once we’re properly unpacked and settled on the coast of Maine we’ll feel better.
Debbie: What if I miss DC?
Sam: I don’t miss DC.
Debbie: I do sometimes. All this traveling (back and forth between DC and Stonington, ME; to Portland, OR for the World Domination Summit) makes me unsettled. I’ve been talking for years about how cool it is that my work is “location independent.” But so far I haven’t adjusted to a nomadic lifestyle.
Sam: Give it time. Imagine how I feel giving up my daily routine with patients at the office and the hospital.
Debbie: I worry about that a lot. Sometimes I think I’m worrying for you; that you might miss it too much.
Sam: OK, enough with the touchy feely.
Debbie: Yes, and…
Written 33,000 feet up on Alaska Air #35 bound for Portland, OR.
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