Slowly

2015 continues to be a roller coaster ride that I am strapped into whether I like it or not.  It’s been both scary and tedious, wrenching and uplifting, this ride off into the unknown.  But whatever else it has been and will continue to be, it’s chock full of life lessons that I’ve either got to ride out or run from.  I’ve decided to go with the first scenario.  And that’s not because I am particularly brave.  I’m not.  It’s because, at the risk of sounding ridiculously stuck in a cliché moment, it’s the path my feet are telling me is the one to take.

If you read my next-to-the-last post, you know that things have been pretty unsettling around here. After 2 very long hospital stays with a 3 1/2 week physical rehab sandwiched in between, my husband had been away from home for 3 long months.  Finally, about 2 weeks ago, he got sprung.

It’s been very challenging but he is so very happy to be home that it’s worth it.  We have a long, difficult road ahead of us to bring him back to health but it will happen.  Slowly.

The kitchen is still undergoing its transformation.  We are into month 3 now. Slowly.

It actually it much further along than this!  Thank goodness.

In the meantime, I still have not been able to work.  Or do much else for that matter. I worry about whether or not I will be able to make the trip to the Country Living Fair in early June; or to Ireland later on in the month.  My gut is telling me that they are not going to happen.  It’s ok – it is what it is.

Nevertheless, I cannot deny that the itch is there to be scratched. I’m dying to get back to work. I’ve been able to carve out a few hours in the past few days to try to organize things in my workshop so that I have room to start on a project.  Since early December, I have just been shoving stuff in there higgledy-piggledy until I could barely get inside the door.

Some treasures have been arriving in the mail lately, too.

These beauties are what I put away yesterday.

I can now see light on the horizon!

And, last week, I got the chance (thanks to a good friend) to sneak away and hear one of my design icons, Richmond native Charlotte Moss, speak at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts about her new book, Garden Inspirations.  I had already purchased my copy of the book in advance and it is gorgeous.  If you are a lover of gardens, as am I, you will have to check it out for yourself.

After her talk, there was a book-signing; she was gracious and friendly.  Interestingly, my husband actually was in high school with Charlotte here in Richmond; he says she always wore the coolest knee socks (really, what an odd memory, don’t you think?).  To cap the event off, we were treated to a beautiful luncheon inside the Museum.  Jody and I had a wonderful time meeting the delightful ladies we shared a table with.  It was a much-needed respite and has me dying to get outside and get started on a new garden project.  Or maybe just pot up a few plants.

That photo at the top of this post is kind of how the present is looking to me right now.  It’s murky, unclear, and mysterious.  Perhaps even a bit unsettling.  But see that bright rectangle of light in the center?  That’s the sunny side.  And I’m heading straight for it. Slowly. But surely.