Holiday update

Home for the holidays, what a concept. It seems like I left a long time ago, but it has only been not quite 3 months! Seeing my girls is without a doubt the best! I really was feeling so hungry for their presence and to hug and kiss them up!!

Alli and I are staying at our friends Amy, Cary and Asa Bush's house while they are in New Orleans with family. It a perfect cabin in the woods for Christmas. We have been visiting friends, eating too much, and sleeping deeply in a huge bed! It is lovely!

Hannah is working her new job and also still waitressing, burning it both ends, but happy and beautiful as always. We will spend Christmas day with her and Matt at his Mom's with the family!

Taking walks with my friends, drinking wine, the usual. kathleen keeps wondering "is this normal now"? It is the new normal for now!

I accepted a full time salaried with benefits position just before I came away. I am very excited about it. I will be a Child Care Quality Educator, funny title, isn't that what I already was? This position is similar to the work I was doing for the Behavior Consultation Project, except in this position I am working with the teachers and the whole program to support and coach their achievement of the their quality improvement goals, not specifically tied to a particular child in the program. In Virginia there is a program called the Virginia Star Quality Improvement Plan that preschool/child care programs get funding from and have to meet specific quality standards, thus the quality improvement plan. I will be in the role of mentor, coach, trainer to help them meet their goals.

Just realized my title for this blog is quite fitting! My first job was with New Beginnings and I thought that was pretty magical. It was a lovely job, with lovely people, but not enough hours, no benefits, and the work was within my skill set, but not what I was really passionate about. It was also starting up a new program, and I am really looking for established. So this is a better fit all around. I may still consult with them for some parenting support, but not a lot.

I am moving to a house in January in a great neighborhood with walking trails very close by! It is closer to my sister, my job and most of where I go in Cville. My animals will be most thrilled! They will have outdoor access all the time now, and won't be cooped up in a little apt! We are happy.

Happy New Year to you all and know I am out here thinking of you, adjusting to the new normal, but never forgetting the old normal!!
xxoxx

Virginia is for wimps!! They have cancelled school and events twice now for weather and all we got was some flurries! Ridiculous! We did get a beautiful ice storm one night and it melted away by mid morning. They say they cancel because in the mountains it is worse, but here in town the weather is very mild. Cold believe me, but most everyone thinks the closures are a joke and a pain as kids don't go to school, parents can't get care so miss work! New Englanders would laugh, Chicago howl, and most other northern locales scoff at what they call winter here!

I am moving to a house in January. A friend of my sisters is going on sabbatical to Italy for 8 months and I am moving in to their home. Kind of a combo caretaking/housesitting/rental deal. It will be great for my pets who are most displeased with apartment living. I have adjusted, but the noise, trash, dog poop everywhere has begun to get under my skin.

The trash is crazy, every end of the month there are discarded mattresses filling up the huge dumpsters, people are lazy and just leave their bags of garbage on the side of the dumpster instead of throwing it in or finding another with some room for more.

The worst is the dog poop everywhere, worse than Paris or NYC! Thing is they have bag dispenser all over the complex and receptacles too! I pick up other dog poop because I step in it at night when I can't see that well! YUCK! Bad enough if it your dogs, but others is just gross. Nicely in the winter is is frozen in the morning so easy to get with a bag! TMI???? Sorry!

My wrist is healed mostly, still wearing a cast but it is removable! Not much range of motion, but that will come. It is very stiff and achy if I try to do too much. So what else is new?

Looking forward very much to my quick trip to Sonoma County for Christmas with my girls. This is the hardest bit and getting harder. I miss them terribly. A benefit has been we are in touch more often than when we lived closer. We text daily and talk every few days. I am so proud of them both, they are growing and evolving into the most amazing women!! Hoping to catch a bit of time with some of you, but know my priority is with the girls. I would love to see you all and stay longer but I am committed here for work and need to stay focused on my year away!

I am so grateful for all the support, love and connection I am receiving from everyone. I too am growing and evolving into someone stronger and more self aware!

Happy Holidays to everyone, be thankful for what we have!

Search the Darkness

Sit with your friends, don't go back to sleep.

Don't sink like a fish to the bottom of the sea.

Surge like an ocean, don't scatter yourself like a storm.

Life's waters flow from darkness. Search the darkness, don't run from it.

Night travelers are full of light, and you are too: don't leave this companionship.

Be a wakeful candle in a golden dish, don't slip into the dirt like quicksilver.

The moon appears for night travelers, be watchful when the moon is full.

Rumi