We are all about change here at Unraveling, which is why you haven't heard from me since...OMG, since JUNE. I'm reminded that change is why I started this blog in the first place. My Boyo was about to make us empty nesters AND my best friend was leaving town for good. All that change was making me feel blue. But that was seven years ago. This is now and the only thing that hasn't changed is change. We. Are. All. About. Change.
I write these words from the basement of the house. In late June, finally accepting that our Girlie wasn't going anywhere soon (it's been a year since she moved back in with us), I gave up the sunny room on the second floor that I'd been using as a workroom so she could have her childhood bedroom back. She was just too cramped in our tiny guestroom, so I moved down to the basement. It seemed like such a sacrifice at the time, but it makes more sense now that I've remembered that the basement has always been a very productive room for me. This is the room I used as a freelance costumer/seamstress. This is the room in which I studied and wrote all my college essays, including my Master's thesis.
All that productivity had slipped my mind because in recent years this room has become the Boyo's headquarters - a bastion of slacking - when he's visiting on school holidays from the University of Heidelberg. It can only be entered from the driveway, which keeps the noise to a minimum (young mens' days start and end so much later than ours do) and gives him more privacy when he's here(he being All.Grown.Up). But he's not here now and since I'm down here again, it really does make sense. Not quite sure what I'll do for a workspace when our Boyo comes home again for a visit, but that won't happen until next February and I will wait to cross that bridge. For now, I am ensconced and feeling more productive all the time. A change for the better.
But wait, there's more. The Girlie moved out of the tiny guest room and into her old bedroom. And in July, Mr. Celia grudgingly began to remodel the guest room so he could move his office out of the Boyo's childhood bedroom. That seems like too few words for the process, though. Too few words to describe the chaos that ensued and is just now abating. Not to mention the job that was driving Mr. Celila crazy. Please imagine a long-winded explanation with many digressions - I don't have the energy to relive it myself. Mr. Celia had to move his office because my brother, Timothy (the New York brother), moved in with us on August 1st. This is a good thing, his relocating to the West Coast, and it will only be disruptive for a short time (that's my new mantra: itwillonlybedisruptiveforashorttimeitwillonlybedisruptiveforashorttime...). Then we can get down to the business of four adults living together in this house. It will be fun.
But that's not all. I retired from my job at the Port of Oakland last year, as you may recall, and since then I've been working part time. I like working part time. It seems more humane. I've had time to take 3-5 yoga classes a week, I've been cooking more and taking care of Mr. Celia, rather than him taking care of me. I joined a community chorus. I took up playing Mah Jongg twice a month. And also I've just been relaxing. I like relaxing. Well, all that's changed. Since August 1st I'm back at the Port. Full time. Yes. Full time. But don't worry, it's temporary (that's my newer new mantra: it'stemporaryit'stemporaryit'stemporaryit'stemporaryit'stemporary...). I'm replacing someone who has a new baby. He'll be back in three months.
My carefully crafted life of ease has shifted dramatically on multiple fronts, but not my carefully crafted attitude. I have, over the past year and a half, learned that it wasn't the job that was making me crazy, it was me. I'm taking better care of myself. I know it's ok to say no. I can slow down and breathe. People don't take advantage of me unless I let them. I can tell people what I need and they will respect it. And anyway, it's all likely to change rather abruptly once again, and probably for the better. Just hang on and enjoy the white-knuckle ride, baby.
It's all good. Change is good. And that's what it's all about at Unraveling: Knitting and Life in Transition.
