Karen's Weekend Assignment #214: Fresh Starts

"Sometimes it's the smallest decisions, that change your life forever."

-Keri Russell

Weekend Assignment #214: Sooner or later, pretty much everyone makes one or more major changes in their lives, sometimes several at once. We leave home, go off to college, get married, get divorced, change jobs, have kids, move to another house or another state, etc, etc. These things can be very stressful, but we do them in the hope of being better off in some way. Tell us of one change you voluntarily made in your life at some point, that worked out really well.

Extra Credit: Tell us of a little tiny change that also went well!

-Karen Funk Blocher, of the blog, Outpost Mavarin

It's funny that this subject came up for a Weekend Assignment at this particular time, because it crossed my mind last night to write a little about it. Today, May 2nd, is the 7th anniversary of when we moved into the little cottage we live in now. I love this place, it is more then just the roof over my head... it's the LOVE SHACK! LOL. We moved in here, during a really turbulent time in our lives and in our marriage, but we found this place set back from the road, up here in the hills, and from our first night here, we have been happy, safe, and did I mention happy? :) It has some really charming quirks to it, including a huge backyard that one can get lost in. Three seasons out of the year, we will get nightly visitors to our yard, in the form of opossums. A very misunderstood creature if ever there was one. And on most summer days, you can close your eyes and hear the Ethereal Musician playing his saxophone off in the distance.

In the seven years we have lived here, we have never been able to figure out which direction the music is coming from. He is a great, mysterious force that plays music on the breeze, and so many times he has sent me into a daydream, that gave me the peace I needed inside to face whatever hurtful thing that might have been present. One of these times was in the late afternoon of 9/11/2001, when there were suddenly no airplanes in the air, and no children playing joyfully out in the yard, and everything had taken on an eerie silence, as we all sat paralysed in front of our TV's waiting to see if more devastation would take place. At one point I got up to let Elvis out to play in the yard, and when I opened the back door, I could hear the Ethereal Musician playing America on his sax. It was one of those profound moments you don't forget. The sight of the sun setting on that day, and the sound of the music being played somewhere off in the distance. So sad, so sweet. The fresh start we made by moving into this little place, was the best fresh start I ever made.

Extra Credit: One recent change was from using the One Touch Ultra 2 meter, to the One Touch Mini. I use the Ultra 2 when I am at home, and the mini when I am out with the camera. It has been kinda nice to take the sleeker little meter with me, and it fits well in my camera bag. And besides, it's color is a fashionable PINK GLOW!

-OndineMonet
"I Want Pluto To Be A Planet Again"
January 4th, 2007
Berkeley, California
Afternoon