6
SEPTEMBER 29�OCTOBER 6, 2021
FROM THE SHELF
CHECKING OUT THE
WORLD OF BOOKS
‘Packing Light’ — a guide to hitting the road
By Cheryl Hoefl er
GO! Magazine
Timing is everything.
My daughter gave me this
book several years ago, think-
ing it would suit my minimalist
nature and “someday” dreams
of a vagabond retirement
lifestyle. It did, but I think it was
too hard reading about some-
thing I desired but couldn’t yet
have. At any rate, I didn’t get
past the first few pages.
About a month ago, I found
the book buried in a box and,
well, with retirement just
months away now, I literally
could not put this book down.
“Packing Light” is ex-
actly what its subtitle states:
“thoughts on living life with
less baggage.” Maybe, like
author Allison Vesterfelt (now
Fallon) and her friend Sharaya,
you dream of hitting the road
for some period of time — or
forever (which is my intent).
Maybe you’d just like to sim-
plify your current existence. Or
maybe you just generally feel
burdened and aren’t sure what
you want. This book is for you.
Allison is a writer/middle-
school English teacher, and
Sharaya is an aspiring singer-
songwriter. The pair of young,
single, working Portland
women decide to abandon the
comfort and safety of their
jobs, homes, daily routines —
not to mention, most of their
possessions — for a year-long
road trip, but not without much
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reservation and hesitation.
Vesterfelt’s memoir includes
the encounters and occur-
rences along the way — the
good, bad and ugly — but is
more about the inner experi-
ence from such an undertak-
ing — lessons learned, wisdom
gained, faith, fear, friendship.
And of course, the pressing
question of “baggage,” too
much of which might keep
us from living truly passion-
ate lives.
Vesterfelt poses so many
questions for the reader
throughout their journey:
What is all this stuff we carry
around? Why are we so afraid
to lose it? What are we willing
to leave behind and what do we
really need in our lives? And as
she and Sharaya first laid plans
to basically quit their lives to
hit the road for a year: “You
can’t just do that, can you? If
so, why don’t more people do
it?” Indeed.
As the saying goes, if it
were easy, anyone could do it.
But just what does it take to
make that first step into the
unknown? As Vesterfelt says
midway through the book, “If
we pondered all the mistakes
that we could possibly make,
maybe it would prevent us from
moving forward in our journey.
And perhaps that would be the
worst mistake of all.”
“Packing Light” has Chris-
tian themes sprinkled through-
out, but I believe most readers
won’t mind. Personally, I wel-
comed the references, pon-
dering whether or not God is a
dictator barking down orders
or an enemy on whom we can
lay blame when things don’t
go right. And then there’s the
whole “leap of faith” dilemma.
At the end of “Packing Light”
there’s a “Pass It On” page,
requesting that the reader sign
the page and share the book
with others — in keeping of
course with the theme of living
life with less baggage. Usually, I
redistribute books at Little Free
Libraries, but this one I’m hold-
ing on to. I might need it for
reference “down the road.”
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