Parting...

A week from today, our house will be empty, but still for sale, and Jeremy's truck will be loaded and mostly likely headed northward towards the panhandle as we swing by his Grandma Downey's before bearing east to Maryland.  You can follow the adventures of the five of us (3 people + 1 grumpy, crooked-tailed, Korean cat + 1 hyperactive, 9-month-old lab puppy) in the loaded-down Tacoma here.

The goodbyes have started.  We had two final play dates this week and have started hitting our favorite local restaurants.  We had Korean last night and will certainly be partaking of Mexican food soon; we've resigned ourselves to having to trade decent Mexican food for fresh, readily-available seafood on the east coast.

The farewells are bittersweet.  We are so sad to leave all that we have here, but at the same time we still feel excited about what's coming.  It seems so incongruous to say (and feel).   But we hope our friends and neighbors here know that despite our continued enthusiasm for the move, we will, in fact, be leaving a little piece of our hearts behind with them.

I've been reading a sweet little book called Home Sweeter Home:  Creating a Haven of Simplicity and Spirit.  Really the author's scope goes well beyond that of the interior decor of your home, touching on a variety of ways to bring peace and calm into our often harried lives.  The chapter entitled "Nature's Nurturance" has a section on the lessons to be learned in a Japanese garden, which we are fortunate enough to have here in the Botanic Garden; if you have a Japanese garden near you, I highly recommend a visit.

In the author's words, we found expression of our mixed feelings, reassurance for our doubts, encouragement for our excitement:

"...imposing gates with tile-topped walls hide possibilities within; beyond lies the unknown...Closing doors on different chapters of our lives can feel sad and frightening, but it puts us on another side with fresh views and exciting new options.  Those options include several paths we can take upon entering the garden.  How many times have I been paralyzed with indecision, fearful of choosing the wrong path?  The garden of life offers many paths, but we all reach the same destination sooner or later.  Aside from crucial moral choices, perhaps the question isn't which path is best, but which path beckons me most right now?  Few decisions are irreversible, and it's always possible to retrace our steps."