Baby-Steps Back to Normal

 

Just got home from a fun night out with friends - I can count on one hand the number of times I've done anything "social" like this in the past year.

It was exactly one year ago that I left Florida to "shelter" with family in North Carolina. It was a good move. Living alone as I do, to spend days and weeks at home in Florida "isolating" with Henry and going out for groceries only every other week or so, would have been dangerous from a mental health perspective. Living with my cousin Sally and her husband, and their three cats, was a lifesaver for me (and the cat situation was only mildly challenging for Henry).

Over the past year, a few friends/acquaintances and relatives have been sick with COVID, and a couple were lost. I've been vaccinated; everybody at tonight's gathering had been, as well. I'm very hopeful for the times we can safely gather -- even in large groups, like festivals! 😁 -- again!

WE CAN DO THIS!

Wash your hands.

Wear a mask. 

Practice social distancing.

Get yourself vaccinated when it's your "turn."

Be kind.

(I threw that last one in there because I wanted to. It has nothing to do with physical health, but it'll help someone feel better ... and make you feel better too.)

Be kind. Even long after COVID is a bad memory.

Big News!

I’ve moved!

Over the past 30 years, perhaps even longer than that, I’d given serious consideration to relocating from Florida to North Carolina. Call it bad luck, or bad timing, or just Fate, but each time I started making inroads toward a move, one thing or another always got in the way. When I came up to Carolina in March 2020 to shelter with family against the uncertainty of the pandemic, I had seemingly all the time in the world to find the right situation.

And find the “right situation” I did! A cute and somewhat quirky house in a quiet old neighborhood in the town of Spruce Pine – 3 bedrooms, the largest of which is now a music room, the smallest of which is now an office. A yard big enough for Henry (my 13-year-old dog) to ramble a bit, but not so big that lawn maintenance will be a huge chore (I hope!). A previous resident had planted purple crocus and daffodil, and I’m delighted to watch as they spring up! I think there’ll be tulips in April, and across the street there is a virtual wall of rhododendron that will begin showing off sometime in May.

One of the biggest bonuses of this move is that, after cutting the driving distance between us in half, I’ve seen my brother more in the past 6 months than I’d seen him in the previous 6 years.

I’ll continue performing and producing festivals in Florida with my company Celtic Heritage. Over the years I’ve gotten a lot of experience planning events from the road – “taking care of business” from various locales such as coastal Maine, northern Ohio, and even Calgary, Alberta – so nothing really changes in that department. Plus, who knows? Perhaps I’ll once again find myself producing events in North Carolina.

I’m super-excited about this new chapter of my life! 

photo taken January 8, 2021

Tripping Mines

 

Late February/Early March is apparently an emotional minefield for me. Birthdays of my beloved mother and grandmother, now both departed, plus the anniversaries of Greg's entering hospice and his death all fall within a week. Although I've long since grieved the passings of mother and grandmother, and Greg's death occurred six years ago come Friday, still my mind somehow goes into a sort of -- I don't know how to characterize it, exactly -- a sort of limbo at this time of year.

I’ve been pretty listless the past few days, and today I feel like I'm slogging through quicksand. I didn't even understand why until I put my hands on something that had belonged to Greg and I consciously realized that "It's that time of year again." It's like my subconscious is working to slow me down; during most of the year I'm barely aware of the calendar, yet at this time I come into a somewhat painful awareness ... even without actually looking at a calendar.

It's pretty weird, actually, and kind of fascinating in a way. Don't worry about me! I'm just going to sort of give into it and be easy on myself for a few days.

But I mention it because it may be the one facet of my life experience that I had absolutely no inkling of, prior to its happening. I mention it today because I'm aware of it today ... but also because maybe it's happened to you or maybe it will one day happen to you. Sure, everybody walks their own path, but when you trip one of the emotional mines in your way, it can be comforting to know you're not alone.