The soft opening of summer

Just like a new restaurant, the soft opening of this new season is Memorial Day. The real one will be the celestial day of fire and wishes for bumper crops of tomatoes and all the tasty summer veggies! The longest day of the year, before REAL Memphis summer sets in, to remind us how happy we are for air conditioners and wish the guy (or gal) who invented it gets a Nobel prize!
  The past weekend was very good and restful for me. After a night out of dancing to tunes from my youth, wherein I invoked the suggestion of dancing like no one is watching, I had a quiet, unplugged morning. A mind relieved of constant chatter is worth more than gold! Caught up on magazine reading, gave quiet thought to progress of next couple of art works, put my harried world aside for a moment.
   If you read my last missive, you will understand what next transpired. Yes. I jinxed myself. My bad. My firstborn young'un got back into my house. That's my bad, too. As my man friend says, solitudus interruptus. This happened last weekend, with large child promising to stay for only two days. It has been how many now? Which I have given constant updates on just how many?
   After four and a half years in the chair, I had come to grips with inherited enabling tendencies. Tough love was at the forefront, but in a weak moment it all fell to the wayside, and alas, I'm here now swimming in regret. So this day and the few before this one, I am gathering strength to fight the good fight to save my hard won solitude. Most of my lovely life (all the miserable days are distant sad memories now) I have cared for one person or another, and not regretted a day of it. As a daughter, a mother, a wife, a sister, all that time was freely and mostly lovingly given to that care. Those days are past. Time for me now, selfish as it sounds, I don't care. There's a line in the sands of time, folks!
   There's a summer waiting for me. Gardening, art making, dinner plans, lazy mornings and weekends, calling me to wander about in my big old house and yard, alone and loving it!

The happiness continues

 Maybe I won't jinx myself by admitting this, but life is coming along very well for me these days. After many weeks getting my house arranged to my liking and finishing several projects, I'm looking forward to a bit of free time.....sleeping late, indulging myself in art work, pulling weeds in the yard for an entire day......hours upon hours to myself without expectations from anyone.
  I'm especially looking forward to getting back to art work. So many ideas that need to be made whole. I feel the need to unplug, to leave the phone in a secluded place, so I can be completely alone until I want to not be so alone. As much as I love technology and all it can enhance one's place in the world, some days beg to be away from all of the intrusion technology brings.
  The idea of crawling in the dirt and green stuff is most appealing. The end result of a tended garden cannot be matched by hours of texting with even your most loved one. And I do love a day of that!!
  On the subject of loved ones, it's been a roller coaster recently. Without revealing too much, there's been a loss of those who are dear to me, an empty space which might be filled with joy in some future time. On the other hand, I've made a new friend who's brought a certain brightness to my days and some evenings, who's made me feel like a better version of myself when I'm in his presence.
   At any rate, it is a wonderful feeling to wake up to a fresh day each morning, to be excited about how many adventures await and the stories to be told of that day.