Journal Entry #1
After being in one place for 2.5 months I have been bouncing around like a jack rabbit since March 7th…and with it being the one year anniversary since “this” all started, I find myself rather reflective and aching to once again share with my world, what is my world.
Frankly, I’ve been reluctant to share about my travels and goings on as I feel that I “should’ve” been home, planted…waiting this pandemic out. But I didn’t. I feel I’ve been safe…getting covid tests when merited, wearing my mask when out of my house and quarantining as required. So, yes, I’m “coming out” and although I’ve been vaccinated for over a month now, I do still try and be vigilant in my social practices.
Although I don’t feel overwhelmed by the changes that spring boarded with the onset of covid…mostly because I’m one of the most adaptable people in the world…in all fairness, Life has changed dramatically…starting with my husband of 34 years, after 10 years of having separate residences, moving in with me lock stock and barrel. In one fell swoop we went from weekends or extended stays in either our NYC apt or our home in MD, to full time co habiting.
May, we moved both, our youngest, who also lived in NYC, and husband, from NY to our MD house. Avery would only be with us until June when she would buy a house in Florida and move. Husband stayed. 🙂
I have to say I enjoyed the spring/summer with a routine that fueled my soul. Anchoring my days with runs and morning practice of gratitude/self affirmations. NEVER before have I had the continuity of practice and I feel it helped me to not stress and to keep above the fray.
What was to be 2-3 week trip to Canada in August, ended up to be 7 weeks…living with my daughter, son in law and my precious grand daughter, Addie. Said trip extended by 3 weeks due to the passing of my mother September 17th. You can’t know how grateful I was to have time with her in the weeks leading up to her passing, and that we could have an intimate funeral service for her, and that I was available to my dad between her passing and service, holding tight to him as he grasped for a new reality of life without his bride of 67 years by his side. She was just shy of her 95th birthday. It wasn’t covid. It was her time. And I got to be there.
For years I’ve been yearning to secure a vacation home in my homeland and with the uncertainty of my husband’s career (due to covid and also him being close to retirement) it appeared that the time to make that my reality was NOW. So, once finished with my 2 week quarantine I started to look at vacation homes. It was such a meant to be purchase. Not much available, and what was, was flying out the door…still is. So, when a log cabin, with a private back yard/pool, walking distance to the shores of the Saugeen River, which feeds into Lake Huron, and the quaint town of Southampton, AND 1.25 hours from my daughter and family, and 2 hours from my Dad…showed up (after contract fell through) AND in our allotted budget…I KNEW it was for me and my family. Seriously, pinch me…just pinch me.
It wasn’t “planned” but it was the perfect place to hole up this winter….safe and snug, while our house in MD was a revolving door of prospective buyers.
It didn’t take long for a young couple to deign that our house would be the perfect home for them. And that brings me to the present….sort’ve.
I sit writing this on a stool as my desk, and most of the house actually, has been packed up. I have one more week to do all that is required to move out and move on. We are still in the real estate fray as we look to secure a home in central FL, with the intent of splitting our time between there and the cabin.
After a year of wondering “when,” my husband got “the call” and now can actively ponder what to do in his retirement, after a long haul in the shoe business, that took us around the world.
Luckily for me my job remains such that I can do it from anywhere…as long as I have an internet connection and , at minimum, a phone. So, yes, I continue to work for Distinctive Chesterfields, managing their NC warehouse/showroom and being their sales rep. And yes, I also continue to sell product at zaardesigncenter and also on chairish and etsy. And I continue to promote those organizations that have been vital to my personal and business development, WITHIT and IFDA, specifically the NY chapter for the latter.
I’m also happy to do a little more with Haiti, than selling Haitian crafts, by way of accepting the position of USA Country Director for FIDA/PCH…the organization my Mom and Dad started over 30 years ago. I look forward to what is the next chapter in my Haiti story, which started just shy of 50 years ago.
I turned 60 this year. And I welcome the beginning of this new decade/truly believing that the best is yet to come.
So grateful to have YOU here with me. YOU have gotten me here…supporting my business ventures, supporting me…a world of people that without taking the plunge of doing the scary and unthinkable (talking about that beginning of selling Chinese Antiques on line back in 1999) I would not have known.
Thank you. Just thank you.
Ruth