I am fast approaching my second anniversary of Arizona living, and my second January. I moved here in March 2023. One of my many gifts in my gift basket from the 747 Woodinville Costco Night Merchandise was a stuffed animal.

It was already named, Gil the Gila Monster. My obligation was to take ‘him’ with me on my upcoming, and numerous adventures in Arizona.

I mentally groaned, “Yet another item to pack up and attend to that I didn’t ask for.”

As with most tasks in my life, I leaned into it versus away, so here we go …

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My Albatross To Bear

“My albatross to bear” is an expression that means something is a burden or a source of anxiety that’s difficult to overcome: 

• “It’s my albatross” means it’s my burden. 
• “Fame has become an albatross that prevents her from leading a normal life”. 
• “Credit card debt is my albatross; I can’t ever seem to get it paid down”. 

The expression comes from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 1798 poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (You can read the entire poem by clicking the link) In the poem, a sailor kills an albatross, a bird that’s traditionally considered to be a good omen.

As punishment, the sailor is forced to wear the dead albatross around his neck. 

The word “albatross” is used metaphorically to describe a psychological burden that feels like a curse. It’s often associated with guilt or shame.

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C’mon Gil!

As I’ve eluded to, this obligation wasn’t initially I wanted to do. However, my friends that grew into my family at Woodinville Costco wanted to be part of my life even after I moved away and this was a connection point. That said, it eased my mind and in fact inspired me to personify this stuffed animal like Wilson, the Volleyball (Castaway, 2000)

I borrowed a nickname for my friend’s house in Chandler, Camp Wilde. I even labeled the address as that in my Google Maps Locations! I moved down mid-March, but was scheduled for a week long cruise early April 2023. So when I posted on Instagram, and Facebook, the leading words were “C’mon, Gil!”

Since I generally Geocache while I travel, I’ve added to my task list to pack up Gil with the Geosquad (LEGO minifigures that are avatars for my crew) I anticipated questions about Gila Monsters, so I got my weight up on them prior to leaving Washington. The following is the heading from the Wikipedia entry:

The Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum, /ˈhiːlə/ HEE-lə) is a species of venomous lizard native to the Southwestern United States and the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is a heavy, slow-moving reptile, up to 56 centimetres (22 in) long, and it is the only venomous lizard native to the United States. Its venomous close relatives, the four beaded lizards (all former subspecies of Heloderma horridum) inhabit Mexico and Guatemala.^[3][4] The Gila monster is sluggish in nature, so it is not generally dangerous and very rarely poses a real threat to humans. However, it has a fearsome reputation and is sometimes killed despite the species being protected by state law in Arizona.^[1][5]

~ Wikipedia entry

I really keyed in on “sluggish in nature”, meaning Gil would need to be prompted to travel as he wouldn’t do so organically. My brommando, Marc E Marx, had some fun with Gil on the Carnival Liberty. He is best wingman to have in a social situation in which you and him are the only people you know.

Once I returned from the cruise, my travel was limited to exploring Arizona via car trips. My main worry is leaving him somewhere. So I pose him at the beginning of an adventure, post it on social media platforms, then pack him away securely.

The following is not an exhaustive list of places he’s visited, but definitely some of the highlights: Oregon, California, Arizona (of course) Colorado, Utah, New Mexico (courtesy of the Four Corners Monument) Texas, Mexico, Belize, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas.

Then in one trip alone I visited: Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky! After miles of smiles, and more to come, my albatross to bear has become my pleasure to post.

C’mon Gil, we’ve got adventure ahead of us.