Snow Drefts Post #48

Candle makers

 

It’s amazing the difference a year can make and what can happen when we focus our life energy into our passions.    Even better, to weed out the things that block or disperses that energy.   I've come to the conclusion that everything and everyone either feeds or bleeds us.  This is why the New Year always brings me focus and hope.  Last Christmas season was difficult as it seemed I was in a time warp, living 2004 –a divorce, the death of my step mom, the brain injury (and 4 years later the death) of my mom – all over again.  What I thought had been laid to rest – no pun intended – came screaming back into my mind like a freight train that I found hard to shake. Also, I had been working contract-to-contract, making it nearly impossible to buy a house, which I have desperately wanted to do. But the good news is, living in a place that is full of lush color and nature, for me, makes a huge difference on how life is experienced overall and, though last year was hard, it may well be the very thing that kept me from becoming completely enveloped in relapsed grief.  It was time to set some serious long-term goals personally and professionally to be executed in the New Year.

Friday, after an intense late afternoon meeting, I walked a couple blocks to my favorite boutique – Covered – and discovered that the ‘North Pole’ event was going on downtown.  I could hear the happy laughter and voices just a block away as Christmas music permeated the air and later decided to walk over.  The Christmas train carried moms, dads and kids up and down Royal Street.  As is tradition to this four year old event, Spider man came down the side of the Hampton Inn from the roof to the ground.   A cardboard version of Whoville was set up in the quad at the Riverview Hotel and people waited in line to sit on Santa’s lap at Hargrove Engineering firm.  In various places there were snow machines blowing ‘snow’ (I hear it is Dreft laundry soap) off the New Orleans-style balconies that line the street.  I found myself thanking God that it is Dreft as I looked at all the happy faces who were most likely wishing that it was real snow.

   Then I thought of all those unappreciative northerners who have no idea that there are people who are so desperate to see snow that they are actually dancing in floating flakes of laundry soap.  Yet, there they are, Upstate New Yorkers, often getting six feet or more of the stuff and then having the nerve to complain!  But me…I’m not greedy because I never liked the stuff in the first place, which is why I prefer laundry soap and am thrilled at the empowerment of somebody being able to just shut it off.

 Today was my favorite ‘secret’ Christmas party ever (see last year’s ‘Merry Christmas from Dixie’) that takes place on the property of a well-known local family.   Their houses are scattered throughout the woods and they moved historical buildings doomed to be torn down to their land. The invitation boasts of the “restored Chapel, Country Store, Pottery Shop, Grist Mill, Blacksmith Shop and the old Toulminville Schoolhouse. There will be a Blacksmith, a Potter and a Candlemaker on hand.  Also enjoy touring the decorated and lighted Boardwalks through the Forest beside the Bay.  Holiday music will be presented in the Chapel and at the Amphitheater”.  Again, it was a splendid event.  Last year it inspired me to push beyond the flood of grief and make conscious goals and decisions for the second half of my life.  Perhaps it was walking the lighted trails around the pond, or seeing the fruition of a dream come true simply because the dreamer had a vision and lived his life accordingly.  I thought of how many times my decisions have not reflected my long term goals and I vowed to change that.

Changes are in the midst and many have already happened.   A standard full-time job  would show a steady income to buy a house again.  In January 2013, that happened and now buying a house is only months away. There are bridges to cross but I find that, as each barrier is removed, new opportunities seem to appear out of nowhere and suddenly, previously dark and scary roads become brightly lit with all kinds of signs pointing the way. 

 I can’t help but to believe that much of the foundation was laid in 2008 by taking the risk and giving up the familiar to find a place that resonates with my spirit.   It is things like the Camellias that bloom in December and the sweet scents that permeate the air year-round.  Its Christmas Carols on a 75 degree night and lighted trails through the woods with boardwalks on the bay.  It’s the friendly people who have made sure that we continue to feel welcome even though we are no longer new; like the elderly man who approached me at the party with something he had been driving around with for a year waiting to give me when he saw me.  Its the palm trees with Christmas lights and white sand that looks like snow.  And yes!  Best of all, it’s the laundry soap!  It’s definitely the Dreft!