Photo: My son-in-law caught planting new bushes and flowers at the bookstore with my granddaughter. He has quite the green thumb and with good reason since his guardian appears to be along side him.
Every January I think back over the previous year enjoying most of the memories, saying goodbye and planning to move forward. Last year brought our oldest daughter Beth into the family bookstore business full time. Sarah bought a new house and adopted a new dog and too is working for the bookstore full time. Will moved back to Nashville and started a new job at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. He lived in our cute little house in Red Bank (Chattanooga) which we have now been stripping clean to put on the market (lots of travel down I-24). Margaret is packing as well and moving to Harrisburg, PA to start a new marketing job. Allen and I travel in a couple of weeks to load her up for the short jaunt from Fort Wayne, In. I’m cold just thinking about it. Nicholas graduated from the University of Dayton and is working in Evanston, IL (right outside of Chicago). And, our youngest spent a month this summer studying art in Florence. She is now finishing her junior year at Western Kentucky. Phew! A year of changes and rearranges and growth.
Allen? you ask…if you’ve met him you know he’s just continually saying, “What’s next?” and “Okay.” Always along for the crazy but would prefer the calm.
Me? With a new website and the continuation of a small group started last year, Nashville Catholic Writers, I’m ready to settle back into my writing life. I enjoy writing and with this small group of brilliant writers, I am learning to be a better writer, to stretch my writing and my thoughts. With all the list of changes above for my children, the other writers would say, “How’d you feel when your daughter joined your business? When your daughter bought her first house? Were you nervous about all the job searching and changes? Were you on your knees when your baby was traveling through Europe with no luggage? What was your anxiety level?” Oh man, all this and more. I have so much to learn about good writing and I’m ready for growth; through reading and writing and listening.
Together, let’s enjoy those memories and move forward learning and experiencing the New Year in great detail with all God has in mind for us. Change can be scary but it can also be exciting. Think positive. Let’s just be and allow God to work us through the crazy and into the calm.
What about you? What’s new?