As the Psyche turns

Well, it's a new year. The beginning was a little dicey, but I'm starting to move through it. Mom passed on December 28 with a memorial service on New Year's Day. Odd start to the year in some ways, but in others very timely and significant.

In the Tarot the Death Card means new beginnings. Yes, the Death card can signal a death in the right circumstances but the Death card is far more likely to signal transformation, passage, change.

The Death card speaks of a major conclusion in an area of our lives. Often when this card shows up in a reading it means the querent has had, or will have a change that is monumental - an ending of circumstances that were dragging on for far too long and the only way to make a clean break is to have a sharp ending. The key point to remember here is that where there is an ending, there is also a beginning.

The Death card also exposes us to all of the serendipity in our lives. Everyone has heard the old adage "the only thing you can count on is death and taxes." The quote left out one other inevitable occurrence: Change. We can always count on change. Life is in constant motion and this is the irony of the Death card. Death is never the end - it is simply a motion in a different direction.

So as I end my 63rd year on this planet, I am thinking about change, beginnings of my new life, and the ending of an old one. With mourning my mother, my ADHD has kicked in mightily and I find that over the last few weeks, I have been moving from one thing to another without really accomplishing much. With recognition and acknowledgement of this, I decided yesterday to stop that and start my new life.

With age may come wisdom! ROFLOL I have vowed not to make resolutions to be broken but to set goals that I can work towards and that will evolve with my life circumstances.

Goal #1 ~ I want to update my look and my clothes.

I have a friend at American Sewing Guild who makes a resolution every year to make a new outfit for every monthly meeting. At the current time, I have taken her challenge and will work towards that goal. I completed a nice pair of tropical weight trousers and am looking around for the balance of the outfit. Due to this month's other challenges, it will probably be a tee shirt or two. Although my serger is in the shop getting a much needed tune up so that will have to be done later in the week. I can get the patterns drafted and cut out so it will be a matter of an hour or so to finish.

Then I have a muslin for a jacket cut out that has been sitting around for months while I went in other directions. I think I cut it out back in September, but with work and my textiles class, there just wasn't really any time for sewing except emergency items. I have started putting the muslin together, and anticipate that will be ready for fitting pretty soon. Hopefully by tomorrow, but I do have lots of other things to get done today. I'm hoping to use it for a basic block once I get it put together because it's a very good standard pattern.



Goal #2 is to get healthy. I love Ginger's idea of her goal being to lose 3 pounds by such and such a date. Nothing further, just a readily reachable goal that will be easily achieved, keep you motivated and can be met and then move forward. It’s amazing, liberating, motivating, and when after a few days you see you've already achieved half your goal, what a rush! The goal is to walk every day and meditate every day. Not quite as readily achievable but we're doing pretty well.

Goal #3 is to clean and purge the house. I figure I've got about 120 days until we move to our new retirement home in Rio Vista. So if I work on the house an hour a day between now and then, cleaning, purging all the things we don't want and/or need, and get things packed and organized and labeled as I go, it will be an easy move for a change with no frustration about not having things done. Such a deal!
Because no one knows where Rio Vista is, here's a map.



If you can see the little #1 in about the center of the map, that's Rio Vista. We'll start our process pretty soon and anticipate being in our new house by the end of April or so. We're excited. Everywhere in town is within about 5 miles of a boat dock, so we can have the boat in the yard and be in the water quickly. Retirement is looking better and better even though it's a few years out. :P}}

We have concluded that Rio Vista is about the best place for retirement we can find right now. Should get me out of ALLERGY capital of the world Sonoma County, so maybe I can breathe better. We'll be able to get a decent sized house for an amount we can afford, and it's very central, almost equidistant from Sacramento, San Francisco, and Santa Rosa, plus pretty close to Stockton where Dale has been working the last few years. That will mean he gets to come home at night instead of staying in a Motel in Stockton and eating his meals at Dennys. Should be a win-win situation!

I think that's all for today. I've got to get going on my task list for the day!