Themes: 2023-2024
At the end of 2022, I reflected on the previous five years’ themes (posted here) and ended with a teaser:
2023: TBD, I have some ideas, but nothing to announce. Stay tuned!
I had known since November 2022 I was no longer in the “port of indecision” regarding my move to Tybee. I had finally spent enough time here on my own to know I felt at home. Post-pandemic widowhood comprised more solitude than anything else; why not spend it somewhere warm, walking distance from the beach! But I waited a few months to announce it to anyone, just in case . . .
So, what themes would I assign to 2023 and 2024?
2023: Get Ready, Get Set, Go! (and get a dog!)
I knew I wanted a dog. It might be easier to wait until after the move, but I started looking at rescue sites and adopted Cara in June. She was good company while I packed, posted furniture on Facebook and made a bajillion trips to various donation centers with carloads of all the extra things I didn’t need to move. Taking her to as many age-appropriate training classes as I could gave me something fun to do between all the chores.
Writing fell by the wayside as maintaining Peppertree Rescue’s social media pages used up all my creative time and energy.
While in Florida in February, I attended my sixth and final Jimmy Buffett concert. In April, I took my best friend on her first trip to Key West. In August, my sister and nieces made their first summer visit to me in Saratoga County. In early October I met up with friends in Nashville. From then on, it was all about finishing the packing, staging the house and moving. My brother was a giant help with multiple U-Haul trips.
A month after arriving, I headed to the Atlanta area for my niece’s wedding. I managed to decorate inside for Christmas, but I didn’t get any cards sent. By the end of the year, Cara and I had joined the 7 am dog park pack, I got an estimate for painting all my bathrooms and bedrooms, I enrolled in a writing workshop in Savannah and I made contact with kitchen renovators. I also lost 10 pounds, mainly from living on an island (where DoorDash doesn’t deliver), walking the beach and climbing stairs.
2024: Routines Plus Renovations Equals Home
Painting and kitchen/bathroom renovations have made the house a home that I love even more than I did before. I feel at peace, comfortable and safe here.
For the first time since 2018, I socially interact in person with other humans on a daily basis. The morning crew at the dog park has welcomed me and Cara and I can’t think of a better way to start most days than outdoors watching dogs play. The humans (and sometimes the dogs) socialize beyond the dog park, enjoying meals and camaraderie at each others’ homes.
My other routine circle consists of writers in the workshop I joined in Savannah. I wasn’t looking for something like that, but came across it on an events calendar and decided to check it out. As a result, I have moved my first novel forward to the editing stage. It also means I regularly associate with people who know me primarily as a writer – and take me seriously as such – which feels good! It’s fun and educational to share the writing experience in person with others who are doing it, too.
A third, looser circle is the local Parrot Head club, with whom I enjoyed a couple volunteer events, “Friendsgiving,” and a Christmas party. These three circles are in addition to the good friends I already had here, whose company I enjoy on a more random basis.
In April I took myself to Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida to see Mac McAnally in concert. Labor Day weekend was with friends in Key West at an event celebrating Jimmy Buffett. In October I traveled with my best friend to her first Trop Rock festival-like event, Meeting of The Minds in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Coming Soon, 2025!
I plan to increase my volunteering, get into a more organized and intentional exercise habit and keep moving forward with my books. Will they ever be published? Will anyone ever read them? Well, my official editor is reading the first one now, and four people have already asked to be beta readers. And if it never gets any further than that? It will have been fun – and good brain exercise – to get this far.
Looking forward to one or more visits from friends. I have a ticket and pet-friendly lodging reserved for a Trop Rock event in Amelia Island, Florida, in June. But sooner than that, on January 1, I may Polar Plunge here on Tybee!
As I reflect, even though it’s been six years, there is still surprise and sadness that I’m living this life without Jim. But it’s still a good life I’m getting to live. In fact, in some ways it is an extraordinary life. I plan to elaborate upon that in a future post.