Apartment 12: A New Blog In A New Place

A bend in the road...

One of the constants of life is change.  Some changes are easy; some changes are very hard. Many times, change comes like a thief in the night, stealing the comfortable life we lived and force us into another direction. And life begins on a new page and in a different place.

In actuality, my 'bend in the road' is more than that...it's a total transformation of life as I knew it. I am a widow since mid-summer. Our home is dismantled and I live in a different place. A collection of old and chipped but pretty dishes, my fetish for mirrors of all kinds and sizes, the little trinkets that were so fun to collect over the years are sold. But the things that really count are still mine. No person, place or thing can ever take my memories or who I am away!

Apartment 12 blog is birthed out of a desire to share my life in my new home. Several years ago our youngest daughter and family planned to build a new house. In their plans they designed the basement as an in-law quarters 'when it was needed.' This need came much sooner then we expected after my honey was diagnosed with colon cancer the second time. I quickly named my new home Apartment 12 - apartment sounds much homier than basement and 12 is the house number. Sounds simple and sensible to me!

Apartment 12 is roomy and perfect for one person. It's in the boonies, a.k.a. - 'a backwoods area' Webster says. It's quiet all the time except when the dog barks, or the chickens cackle, or the goats m-a--a--a. I can see LOTS of stars at night and the moon? Beyond glorious! Do I miss Fleur Cottage, the 'dawdy haus' (grandparent home) where my Honey and I lived for nine short years? Fleur Cottage will ALWAYS be special in my heart but life has changed and now I'm here at this place for this time. It's easy to stay stuck in the past or yearn for the 'old life' so much so we become useless for the present and that is not a place I want to be.

I've lived here now for a little over two months and as all adjustments go, there are pros and cons.  I am surrounded by Amish farms instead of traffic and shops. It takes anywhere from seven to thirty minutes or more to go anywhere instead of three to twenty minutes. At Fleur Cottage, there was little privacy stepping outside the front door; at Apartment 12, one can do most anything with all the privacy one desires. Life is a bit slower here for me, something I needed after our journey of the past several years. I miss my family that is thirty minutes away but my time is my own and I can easily hop into my car to see them. I've learned that one can adjust to most anything and I want to accept the 'bends in the road' with grace.

~Esther