Well, world, it's been 15 months since I last wrote a blog entry. All I have to say about that is, whew - where does the time go? Frankly, I'm a little bit stunned. The speed at which the last year just flew by and evaporated didn't hit me until I sat down to watch the repeat Halloween episode of Modern Family. As I sat there laughing just as hard as I did the first time I heard about the boxes of crackers and baby Jesus that Gloria bought Jay, it felt like I had just watched it a week ago. Was it possible that an entire year had gone by? Is it possible we've been in Dahlonega for 19 months? That we just went through our second holiday season in Georgia? That my tiny puppy now weighs 73 pounds? That we haven't seen punk bunny since Dahlonega's 30-year snow storm back a year ago? That I've been back and forth to Virginia nine times, written nearly 100 grant proposals, made new friends, taken up painting, lost ten pounds, put three back, encouraged my husband to leave his job and then helped him launch his own company?
Yes, it is. Yes, to all of it.
There are so many stores, real and fictional, about people who come upon hard times, and - after an initial culture shock - band together to make their lives work better than they did before. Once they achieve this coming together, they end up having the time of their lives and discovering truths that would have been impossible to discover if the world was being handed to them on a silver platter. Our household has not escaped the effects of a broken economy, but we have fared better than many. We are one of the thousands if not millions of people who live and pay rent on a home in one city, but own and pay a mortgage on a house in another city. We are making it but slowly racking up debt to do so. We are a household without one full time job but a few part time jobs between us. We haven't been been on a vacation together in 29 months. But we eat, we are warm, we find ways to participate in our favorite activities, and are incredibly thankful for our life together.
I find it strangely wonderful that in this terrible economy, with only two part time jobs between us, a new business to support, a house in Virginia that still hasn't sold and 29 months since we took a vacation together and a baby that still hasn't seem to find its way into our lives - that we are happy. Really, truly happy. Life; it has a funny way of giving you exactly what you need when you need it.
