First Weekend

My word of the year is "Foundation."

I was very much envisioning that in the manner of purchasing a home.  I thought my partner and I might finally be in a space to build a solid foundation together.  I was excited and getting ready.

Now eight months later, I am here in the condo I moved into instead. I haven't really thought of it as a foundation my first week here, more as a cocoon.  I feel safe here, and a sense of peace.  It has easy access to nature, and it is close to many things.

When I sat down to write this initially I couldn't recall my word of the year.  I thought it should be something like, drift or float, because that is how I feel.  Clearly my plan for my life was askew, so I let go of that plan and now drift in the current.  I am not fighting to get upstream or to a different channel.  I let go.

And I find beneath me a foundation different from the structure of a dwelling, the foundation of relationships I've built over the years, such as these two boys - ages 13 and 10.  They have been angels to me this summer.  I asked their mom for them to spend their last summer weekend with me, both as a thank you to her for letting me stay with them this summer, and also as an easing in to living alone.

Today we started out with a 3 mile bike ride to play a little tennis. Then when we got back we took turns selecting activities.  They picked games, but enthusiastically shifted gears when I selected watercolor painting for my first turn and taking a walk on my 2nd.  

We found a short wooded trail I didn't know about on the walk which ended at a playground.  We played tetherball there, something I don't recall doing since I was a child. Then I learned the youngest is quite competitive and persistent when they did timed races to climb up a slide.

Before bed I read Alberic the Wise to them by Norton Juster (author of The Phantom Tollbooth) which I also read to myself last night before bed.  Both days a different nugget of wisdom jumped out.

The power went out briefly during a storm, for just a minute tonight, which was a bit scary in a new place.  But I have lights from my father plugged into a few outlets.  They have batteries that turn on when the power goes off.  So those lights appeared, and that was reassuring.

 (My helpers at work yesterday.)