It's good to be home...

After a month of sleeping in the spare beds of gracious family and friends around the state of Texas, it was good to sleep in our own beds again and have a choice of more than five shirts to wear.  (I must say, though that we ate awfully good while traveling.  Our hosts prepared delicious, hearty, comforting, satisfying meals daily that helped me regain the appetite I'd lost in the weeks leading up to our trip to Texas, stressed with the weight of a difficult decision, and challenged by preparing meals for only 1 1/2 eaters.)

But it was more than just slipping back into our full wardrobes and comfy beds.  It was slipping back into our life now and knowing we are where we should be.

Making friends has been slow-going here and I was reminded what a great group of friends I'd left behind in Fort Worth when we were able to catch up over playdates, dinners and sleepovers.  They are smart, articulate, funny women who challenge me, make me laugh, and inspire me with their dedication to their jobs as moms, educators, and community leaders.  I wondered if missing them would make my return to my quiet, somewhat solitary, country lifestyle seem empty and disappointing.  And, honestly, I wasn't sure.  I just didn't know.  I miss intellectually-stimulating discussions from a wide range of backgrounds, viewpoints, political leanings.  I miss book discussions.  (I found, though, that I didn't really miss a lot of the conveniences of the bigger cities - which essentially boiled down to a lot more choices, for things like dining, shopping, entertainment.  Sometimes fewer choices is simpler and a lot of times simpler means happier.)

But, shortly after crossing the county line into St. Mary's county, I knew I was home.  It's beautiful here and the rural setting provides a solace that cannot be found in an urban area (along with starviewing unparalleled by any place either of us have lived previously) - at least for a country girl like myself.  And there's so much to be learned here - an imperative for someone whose curiosity about the world stretches on endlessly, even in her mid-30s:  a new history (or, actually, a really, really old one), a new culture, a new way of doing things.  A history that stretches 400 years to the start of our nation.  A culture tied closely to the land and the water - farmers and fishermen (or watermen, as they're called here).  A new of way of doing things that includes learning new growing seasons and varieties of produce, a sunset at 4:40 in the winter (seriously!) and dressing in layers every single day for weeks on end this time of year.

A new way of doing things that also means stretching myself and my thoughts on things like making friends and socializing.  I aim to be more outgoing and more spur-of-the-moment on issuing casual dinner invitations to neighbors, co-workers, Gideon's playmates' parents.  I pledge to attend more community functions - public cookie exchanges and fire department-sponsored holiday events.

And, lastly (not to mention, most surprisingly), I promise to be open to new avenues for meeting people, even if that means taking up new hobbies, something I've previously shied away from because 1) I'm simply not crafty, and 2) I poo-pooed what I saw as manufactured reasons for gathering and conversing with others.  In other words, I was a snob about plebeian pastimes.  But really, I was mostly just  scared to try something new and not do it well.

So in the interest of this final initiative, I've swallowed my pride and taken that leap of faith into a new hobby - knitting.  I had my first lesson this morning and could not believe it when a) I could do it, and b) I really, really liked it.  I've always been so intimidated by the looks of it, and it seemed unattainably cool.  But I learned to both knit and purl in the course of an hour and half this morning and I cannot wait for my next lesson next week.  In the meantime, I will plow away at practice rows of knitting and purling on the gorgeous "Great Lakes" blue green 100% sheep's wool I chose for my first project (which will be a "crossroads scarf").

In fact, I'm off now to practice a couple of rows - my first go at it since leaving the shop this morning.  Wish me luck!  I'll be back later...