Clarity

Big changes to report here. I'm not going to Portugal next on my Year as a Gypsy. I am being "called" to land somewhere and have a home again...bigtime. This Year as a Gypsy was for me to figure out what I really wanted. I'm so glad I gave myself space and time for adventure and to let my life shake itself out. It was time to listen to myself and what honestly makes my heart sing. Some of what I learned surprised me...but there it is, the clarity I asked for. I'm longing for a home of my own, wide open spaces, the daily presence of horses, and a garden to dig in (a REAL garden—not just some pots on a balcony).

So...when I leave Brooklyn on April 15th, I'll be heading home to Dayton to look for a house. I've felt downright gleeful since deciding.

And if life is like a draft of a novel, I'm not deleting the chapter, "Living in Portgual." I'm just moving it to a later slot in the manuscript because something more powerful came bubbling forth in the story with more energy. :-) And Dayton is a good, convenient place to leap from when adventure calls.

My friend in Portugal is wonderful and she understands. She’s also hysterical. Here’s part of her e-mail (we had planned to go to Venice and into Spain while I was living in Portugal):

“The way I look at it...Lisbon has been around for a long time and other than that pesky earthquake in 1756, it hasn't changed much. People were living in the swamps that were to become Venice since Neolithic times...and again other than that bothersome Black Plague in the 15th century and the yearly flooding from that oh so whimsical Adriatic....it aint going anywhere either....soggy yet serene. And same for Barcelona and Seville...unless of course the Morrocan pickpocket gangs decide to palm the cities while everyone is eating tapas and not paying attention.... So we got us some time I figures.”

I've learned I can label these chapters...but I can't write their endings in advance. Discovery every day.

I love asking for clarity, then getting it. More than that, I love listening to it!