Thursday, July 27, 2017

Letting Go and Moving On

This has been a time of upheaval and change.  We sold our house in Maine and it was quite an ordeal on every level.   It's an old house, an 1866 victorian.  We put our hearts and souls into this "project".  When we bought it, it was in terrible disrepair and we made it our mission to take care of, nourish and update it.  We loved this house and poured time, energy and money into it.  We enjoyed the process of seeing it evolve and become beautiful once again.  However, if you have ever owned an old house, its needs never end and after fourteen years, it was becoming a burden.  There was so much more to be done, driving back and forth became exhausting with all the traffic, we wanted to spend weekends with our grandchildren.  It was time to let go.  This was not easy to do.  It was like letting go of a precious love and I cried a lot.  We had moving sales and had to let go of what we had brought into our lives.  We had to let go of people we had become attached to.  I let go of being able to be at the beach all the time.  The house has an interesting history.  It was built by a wealthy industrialist to house his groomsman and to stable his horse.  Harriet Beecher Stowe's son lived in the house for several years and she often visited him here.  I would walk up the curved staircase and touch the banister and think that Harriet walked these stairs and touched this banister.  My friends lost their experiences here as well.  Several came by to say goodbye to the house.  For the first few weeks after we sold the Horace Woodman House I was very sad and would picture the new owner walking through the rooms.  As time went on, I began to relax and realize that I had more time in my life.  I was not spending half the week there, half the week at home.  Everything was in one place.  I have been enjoying weekends going places I have not been to in years because we were always in Maine.  I see my grandchildren on most weekends.  I see my friends more.  I've also had to let go of a volunteer job that I've loved and so there is a lot of change going on in my life.   I've needed down time to recover and I've taken it.  Today, I sat down and finished a piece I began many months ago.  I'm letting go and moving on.  I'm excited about what lies ahead.  Another new beginning.