This was probably the longest winter of my entire life. This past fall, we moved, and just as we were getting settled I got sick.
Really sick. By the time I was finally feeling like my old self again, the days were short and dark and very very cold. It wasn't long before we had snow, and then this new neighborhood I'd been looking forward to getting to know for so long suddenly seemed very very small. On top of it, I started working from home part-time. This gave me a lot more time with my boys than I've ever had, which was great - amazing even - but pretty much isolated me from almost everything I've ever known.
I was lonely. I hated everything. I didn't even like my new house - the one with the four bedrooms and the office and the fireplace and the main floor laundry. Everything about my life was different, and as much as I thought I was prepared for that, well, I don't think anyone ever really is.
I guess you could say I lost my "mojo". For everything. I didn't want to write, I didn't want to decorate my nice new house, I didn't want to get to know my new home town...I didn't want to do anything. I honestly started to think that maybe we could sell the house this summer and move back, a bit closer to where we'd lived before...back where our family and friends weren't 45 minutes away.
And then one day I noticed the days were just a teensie bit longer. I reveled in watching the sun set at 4:45. Celebrated it. Held the kids up to the window so they could see the orangy-red clouds before dinner.
Not long after that the snow started to subside. We had a few warm days that brought Scooby Doo fog that made night driving hell but surprised us every morning with receding snow piles. We had some rain, some promising temperatures, and all of a sudden my neighborhood seemed to have grown. It wasn't just empty farm fields and naked trees - there were homes out there - nice ones, much like the one we'd bought - where people must live with
their kids...kids who are probably around the same ages as ours who play at the park and ride bikes down the street.
Our subdivision was no longer silent darkness in the evenings. Multitudes of people walk by with their dogs or ride by on their bikes. I've yet to hear a lawn mower, but the sound of kids laughing and motorcycles being tuned up make my heart happy.
Its been a long winter, but finally,
finally...I feel as if I'm emerging, too.
We've been milking this nice weather for everything its worth. The new trampoline went up last week and the boys LOVE IT.
Mid-air
Telling me a story while on the "jump-o-line"
This shot is straight out of camera and a bit over-exposed,
but I just loved the look one his face and the composition.
I took the boys to a local nature reserve to walk the trails a few days ago.
Walking away
Geese
Smiling boys
Momma & Will
(Self-taken...best I could do but I really like it!)
