Latest Commitment! New Friend- By the skin of my teeth

I have had much anxiety over this next commitment. Mostly due to me having no idea what it would be until less than an hour ago. I have so many ideas for what I would like to try/accomplish/brave in the next 300+ days. I have no shortage of ideas. Part of the experiment though was not to pre-plan, to allow what emerges through this process to inform what the next commitment would be. I am in an interesting position of this being the first commitment I start while away from home. The commitment has to work for both here and at home, has to work with air travel, and has to be pertinent to where I am at in this part of the process. I have many ideas of fantastic commitments, ones I hope to try one day, but none of them worked for right now, for today and the 11 to follow. I called Chris and expressed my concern that I would not be able to come up with anything, that the whole experiment would fall apart a mere month in (hmmm that would be 1/12th of the way in, interesting) He seemed nonplussed, said he had no doubt I would come up with something. I then expressed concern to my good friend I am staying with here in Woodacre, he too seemed to have complete faith. It seems I am the only one doubting my ability.

I set off to town. Figured that sitting round worrying was counterproductive. I still had letters to mail, not everyone had got back to me with addresses. I had also to make up some journals, write this entry, and go buy some colourful markers to make the journals more visible. As I drove I made a mental list of tasks I needed to take care of. My mind wandered again to what I would be committing to today. I imagined myself sitting in the Fair Fix, a cafe in Fairfax with internet, good coffee and friendly servers, it is my California equivalent to Oso Negro back home. I have many great conversations here with strangers. I enjoy sharing my story, hearing theirs. I consoled myself that surely I would have a conversation with a stranger and that this would give me inspiration for the new commitment...BINGO!

For the next 12 days I commit to having a conversation with a complete stranger, making a new friend. I will either leave the journal with them, or somewhere connected to the conversation. While I am comfortable talking to people I do not know, committing to doing this every day for 12 days is stretching my limits somewhat. Perfect.