Betwixt & Between: Sunny to Cloudy
Today is our last day in the burbs of Chicago. It has been hot, humid with on and off showers daily, which means it's been my least favorite weather. Just when I think my hair can’t get any frizzier, the weather in Chicago has proved me wrong on a daily basis. That being said, being here has been exactly the respite I have needed. Being around family and no schedule other than daily meditation and tending to dog needs has been enjoyable, and easeful. I am thankful for the gift of time and space to just relax and experience a bit of aimlessness for a moment or two.
What I have noticed this week is that I am well rested, and ready to get going, though there is nothing to really get going yet. This year's projects for the new house have already been spoken for. I might be getting restless vs antsy now that my energy levels have been fully restored. Daily though, it has been too hot and humid for me to really be able to be outside and do anything except go to and from the store. I am not typically a person who likes to go ‘shopping’ just for the sake of it, though while here I have because of needing to get out of the house for a change of scenery.
Going to home decor stores when you have no home to ‘decor’ is very interesting. I resisted buying a fun pair of green textured glass lamps with hideous shades knowing that I have over 20 lamps boxed in storage, and have no clue how I will be decorating this new home, or if any of my existing furniture and decorations will work in the new place. That clarity, along with texting a dear friend and asking her to tell me NOT to buy the lamps, made things easier. While my dear friend did not tell me to NOT buy the lamps, she did tell me to text someone else because she couldn’t tell me NOT to buy the lamps! LOL! I love her!
Here I am again, floating along the betwixt & between, not quite here, and not quite there or anywhere really. It has been just over 2 weeks since we started this journey to the new home. Tomorrow we head back to Minneapolis, and this is the first time in living MN for 34 years that I have actually missed being there. I created something in MN that I thought I would never have, a real life. My life in MN is full with family, friends, and faces that I love, and spaces that I want to be in.
Yesterday we took a nature hike with a cool gentle breeze moving us along the paths and I was thoroughly enjoying all of the native plants and grasses that were starting to bloom. The bonus was a little wet land with a perched blue heron who kept his back to us, and lots of white lotus flowers, my favorite! The sky kept changing from sunny to cloudy, and back again. The black raspberries were beginning to ripen and it made me want to make jam!
On our walk I became more fully aware of how much nature is always in some state of betwixt and between. Whether it's a flower in the process of blooming, berries ripening, or a storm rolling in and out, nature is always shifting and evolving, only to shift and evolve, again and again. Aren’t we as humans doing the same thing? I know that I am, and it is not a comfortable or easy process. However, that is part of the process, and a key part of my learning.
Until next time,
Deana~