How can so many weeks have passed since my last post? Surely I must have submitted something between January and now? Have my written thoughts been erased, or have I simply let them escape into the ethers of memory?
Spring has come and brought with it so many bright and colorful bursts of energy, the catalyst, if one was still needed, of moving me off the couch. The first order of business was to invest in pansies. Yellow, orange, and violet blooms brightened the porch in early April and welcomed my new international student, Herbert, from Austria for the month.
Sharing the house with another individual was something of a growth stretch. While I thought it would be fun to host a few international students, I was not prepared for a 55yr. old male with impeccable manors and an appreciation for Mediterranean cooking and Chicago jazz. For the first time in years I signed on to have coffee in the morning and cook an evening meal daily for a month, which was a jolt to my accustomed late night, late morning schedule. This was the motivation I needed to scrub the kitchen floor, clean the blinds, paint the upstairs bedroom, tidy the living room, buy new bed linens, and replace the foam plates with china.
Herbert's presence convinced me that my life was fuller and richer when I was sharing it with someone. This was a bittersweet acknowledgement that I missed my spouse's presence more than I had admitted, and it was a signal that it was time to seek some social interactions with normal adults. I joined a Meetup group named "Fun Friends First" and attended a backyard evening potluck. This was such a positive experience that I also signed up for a miniature golf outing a few weeks later. Widows, divorced and single folks met one another and formed teams. At the end of the course, we were all laughing and chatting as if we had known each other for eons. How uplifing an experience this was!
The point of all this is to say that change involves stepping out of our comfort zones and doing something different. It might involve a different way of thinking, an unfamiliar setting, a new group of people, different activities, something we would not typically do. It doesn't take a lot of effort, but it does take some.
Spring has come and brought with it so many bright and colorful bursts of energy, the catalyst, if one was still needed, of moving me off the couch. The first order of business was to invest in pansies. Yellow, orange, and violet blooms brightened the porch in early April and welcomed my new international student, Herbert, from Austria for the month.
Sharing the house with another individual was something of a growth stretch. While I thought it would be fun to host a few international students, I was not prepared for a 55yr. old male with impeccable manors and an appreciation for Mediterranean cooking and Chicago jazz. For the first time in years I signed on to have coffee in the morning and cook an evening meal daily for a month, which was a jolt to my accustomed late night, late morning schedule. This was the motivation I needed to scrub the kitchen floor, clean the blinds, paint the upstairs bedroom, tidy the living room, buy new bed linens, and replace the foam plates with china.
Herbert's presence convinced me that my life was fuller and richer when I was sharing it with someone. This was a bittersweet acknowledgement that I missed my spouse's presence more than I had admitted, and it was a signal that it was time to seek some social interactions with normal adults. I joined a Meetup group named "Fun Friends First" and attended a backyard evening potluck. This was such a positive experience that I also signed up for a miniature golf outing a few weeks later. Widows, divorced and single folks met one another and formed teams. At the end of the course, we were all laughing and chatting as if we had known each other for eons. How uplifing an experience this was!
The point of all this is to say that change involves stepping out of our comfort zones and doing something different. It might involve a different way of thinking, an unfamiliar setting, a new group of people, different activities, something we would not typically do. It doesn't take a lot of effort, but it does take some.
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