Things Are Good

It's been a while since I've felt a pull to write, so I've been absent for a few weeks. During this time, I've been visiting family in Ohio. It's the second holiday season since Dad died, and at least for me, things are good this year. I feel like I've really faced and worked through my grief and sadness issues, not just around Dad death, but his illness and my own a few years back. I feel like the past is the past, and the present is pretty clutter free. At least emotionally.

It's been fun working from Mom's house. When I'm not working, she's always up to something around the house, so I've kept busy. Since I arrived, she's decided to put up curtains (replacing fabric swags) in every window except for one bedroom, so I helped her pick colors, order them online, purchase hardware from Target, Walmart and Kmart (it took all three to get enough!) and install them. We've cleaned cupboards and closets, put up the tree and the rest of the inside and outside decorations, wrapped presents, and had several family birthday parties.

The most fun project was on Monday. Mom decided a year ago that she was going to put a mantle on the fireplace in her family room. It's almost a whole wall of skinny horizontal bricks, very 70s, and we have always hated the fireplace. She picked a pretty traditional style with minimal ornamentation, done in oak. She selected a stain to match with her other furniture. She's stained, sanded, and removed excess glue that prevented the stain from adhering in some places. It's been ongoing for many months. She finally decided it was done, and her handyman installed it Monday afternoon. Let me tell you, it's beautiful. It changes the whole look of the room. Everyone who walks in is amazed at the dramatic difference. While she was visiting me, she picked out a very modern frosted glass and metal vase that we filled with black river pebbles and some flocked grass. That is on the mantle, along with a taupe/gold glass mosaic vase. Behind them, where we took down the old school clock that hasn't run for 10 years, she put up a 15 inch mirror that looks like it has bamboo stems shooting out from the center. You wouldn't think bamboo would look nice against the modern bricks, but it's not bad. It's a bit small for the space, but by placing the two vases close to it, the grouping fills the space nicely. On the other side of the mirror are two stocking hangers that look like frosted boxwood topiaries, dangling two oversized stockings.

It's fun to watch her react to her creation. At first, all she could see was the little bit of imperfection on the front where some of the glue wouldn't come up and the stain didn't take quite as dark as the rest. It was a great chance to remind her about times when other family members have been super critical of their own projects. I encouraged her to move past focusing on the imperfections to see the bigger picture, the huge amount of what is exactly the way she wanted it, and the big impact it has on the room, even with some slight imperfections. I think she understands now what she has seen the rest of us go through in evaluating our own projects, and I hope that I've helped her to move past it. I hope that helps me to really move past that sort of myopic focus on my own shortcomings and imperfections as well.

Oh, I could write for an hour about the great things going on, the wonderful conversations I've had with friends, and the great things I'm seeing about myself. I could write that long again about the new business opportunities that are appearing in my path. There is so much good right now. But rather than take the time to expound of the details of this, I'm just going to say that things are good, I feel potent and powerful in my own life, and I feel like things are right in my world. Perhaps I'm coming into my own in a way that wasn't possible when I was younger. Whatever the reason, I'm feeling a greater appreciation for the brilliance that created this work for me that allows me to work from my own home and her home on my whim. I'm appreciating how much I've learned from my life experiences and how connected I feel to the world and the people around me. I feel great about my life. I'm enjoying this feeling and this time. I want to work this energy into my bones so it stays with me moving forward.