Disorientation

Well this has been a few crazy weeks! I have slept in five different beds (and one airplane seat) over the span of a week-and-a-half's time. That's disorienting! I've also cuddled four different cats, and still yearn for two of them. You would not believe all the insane logistics we've negotiated and navigated to get where we are. 

I've blown through multiple time-zones, weather-zones, and have landed in brand-new circumstances that were impossible to grasp beforehand, so I am floating on a bubble of intuition. It reminds me of the dandelion fluff I wear on a chain around my neck that entreats me to "make a wish and see what happens!"

Long story short, Robin and I are now in CYPRUS. Or, to echo my British Facebook friend: "So this is Cyprus."

This was my first plane trip since I flew to Paris from Spain back in 2019 to take care of the adorable cats Russell and Lucy. It was a bit nerve-wracking to fly again! Mostly because of having to wear a mask, climb a ladder from the tarmac onto the "no frills" jet with my carry-on, and produce a vaccination "passport" to a demanding official in order to be admitted to the country. (And carrying way too much luggage as usual. The "sensation" aspect of luggage always confounds me.)

Worst of all, we had no idea what we were walking into.

You plan, you correspond, but you don't know until you've arrived what kind of situation you've gotten yourself into. And I've heard all kinds of horror stories from house-sitters, and we’ve even had a few shaky moments of our own!

Our homeowners picked us up at the airport. I was feeling panicky and nervous after surviving my passport check and retrieving our embarrassingly overly abundant luggage. Penny caught up with us a little way beyond the terminal and greeted us warmly.

I knew in that instant it was going to be alright. 

It felt like "grandma" had come to get me. Her essence was palpable, and I had the urge to hug her right away. (Is that archetypal?)

I don't know that I would call Penny's husband, George, a "grandpa" exactly—he was more like that crazy uncle with a wicked sense of humor. (Penny said she only takes him to places twice—the second time is to apologize for the first time.)

Robin and I spent two days with them getting oriented to the island and learning the ropes around the pets and house. Naturally we were secretly attempting to guess their type (as we do). Robin supposed Penny had ENFJ preferences at first (but then he seems to type any woman who's halfway nice to him as ENFJ by default). It didn't take us long to zero in on George as most likely having preferences for ISTP. Next I entertained ESFJ for Penny for a time, but then her directing communication style seemed evident and I pitched the idea of ESTJ to Robin... and for now, that's what we're holding to. ISTP and ESTJ.

Both of them are the salt of the earth. Between them I daresay they have that common relationship combination of both attitudes of the same function—an introverted thinking type (George) and an extraverted thinking type (Penny). We heard lots of thinking for two days, but it wasn't boring. And it was fascinating to watch their interplay and witness how they enjoyed one another.

I won't lie: we withstood more socializing together than I'm accustomed to, but luckily it wasn't unbearable. The weather here is balmy, and they drove us around the area and gave us history, context, and a general orientation. We had brunch by the water near the town centre, and my initial impression is that the island seems like a cross between Maui and Spain.

They are leaving us their car to use, and we have guides and maps about where to go shopping and sightseeing. The cats can be left alone most of the day (how we adore indoor/outdoor cats who don't use litterboxes—they're easy to care for!), so we will get to romp and play in the sunshine until February of next year. 

Except when we are working.

Which is much of the time.

Sigh.

Their backyard features an orange tree that is just now yielding ripe fruit, and a pecan tree has dropped more pecans than would fill a few wheelbarrows! Pecans are my favorite natural nut, so I expect to have a very healthy island diet while we're here. 

George and Penny flew to Ireland Friday to visit their holiday home and family, and I knuckled down and put the finishing touches on my Australia APT conference presentation, which I delivered at 7:15am Cyprus time Saturday. In fact, I stayed up all night working on it and barely made it by curtain-time that morning! How’s that for brinkmanship?!

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how things went, and will probably flesh the material out into an article, if not a Kindle book (we'll see). I find the topic of relationship coaching riveting to study.

It was great to connect with Kerry, Nancy, and Mary on the Zoom call. Hurrah for old friends! And hooray for the magic of Zoom that lets us reach across the world and multiple time-zones in order to be together. I know some people are Zoomed out and only want to be in-person again, but I think Zoom is a miracle of technology that has helped to shrink the planet, bring us together in creative ways, and allow individuals like me to attend events I could not attend otherwise—what a blessing!

Meredith wrote me later to observe, "your session was fabulous—so professional, polished, useful, multi-interesting, beautifully presented and processed—you really stood out for me." On that basis I think we can assume our session was a success!

I have tales (tails?) to tell you about Max and Lucy (the cats), but I'll save them for another time. I'll also tell you all about Cyprus, but I've hardly seen any of it myself yet! So we can unfold that together during the coming days.

Two things to mention: I brought my materials with me so I may continue to conduct coaching and training while in Cyprus. (This week I'm doing my career coaching program with a young guy who is brimming with potential.) Please reach out and connect with me if I can support you in any way.

I believe I'll leave matters there. I want to go to bed early tonight (Saturday) and release my sense of disorientation. It's the only way I know of to get the world to slow down for a little while.

Ciao for now and good night,

-Dr. Vicky Jo