New Beginnings

A brand new year is the traditional time for new beginnings. Yet new beginnings can happen whenever we take a notion and decide to chart a different course. I am emerging from 40 years in the working world and now finding my footing in the retirement world. New habits and routines are being created, some good and some bad. The sense of freedom is finally starting to sink in.

The work stress from the past couple of years has been terrible, and my mirror (unfortunately) reflects the history. Last week, we decided to investigate a new exercise place a couple of miles from the house. We were granted visitor passes and started exercising again. Ah, it feels so good! We’ll be signing up for membership this week, and we will be getting in better shape before our next vacation.

I have two studio rooms on the second floor of our cottage, and they sadly need to be reorganized. Why do I have two rooms? Because the test of time showed that one was too small. So I took over another room, and dubbed it my annex. I have been postponing the organization because we did not believe that we would still be here at the cottage by the end of the year. We have had our house and property up for sale since January 2007, but that is subject matter for a later post.

In any event, I believe that a little rejuvenation of my studio rooms would help me get out of my creative slump and spark some interest in new projects this year. I have many varied interests. Thus, I will continue my usual struggle to see which projects make it to the top of the priority list. Above all, I resolve to have some fun!

We are planning a wonderful vacation to the southwestern United States this spring. We are so excited! As much as we love our cottage life out in the countryside, we love to journey and see new sights. To make planning easy and the vacation restful, we are taking a guided tour. We’ll be seeing beautiful canyon lands in Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. It will certainly be a change of venue from most of our past journeys and a stark scenic contrast from the green rolling hills of east Tennessee.