Starting over

Today, I stood in my yard and stared at it.  Then I walked around the house, and looked at every plant.  I looked at the poison ivy that is slowly creeping toward the yard.  I circled around and around for 45 minutes thinking and constructing in my head what I want to do.

Most of you know I love to garden.  I love plants and I love color.  If it doesn't bloom for at least 2 months, I don't want it in my yard.  Unless you are hosta.  Hosta is okay.

The people who owned this house before me also loved to garden.  But it just isn't my style.  It is a country garden and really, really..........overwhelming.  There are plants everywhere.  Almost every inch of the yard.  And with three kids, as much as I love to garden, I don't have that many hours to commit to something so large.

So - I am starting over.  I had just gotten my house in Salem to where I wanted it.  For three years Mat and I worked so hard on that yard to make it where we wanted it and we were still making plans.  And now - I have a whole new yard to work with.

In some ways, I see it as fun.  I will get to make it how we want it.  It will become "us".  No worries for all of you who love gardens - all the plants are going to be finding new homes - either other places in my yard or with new friends.  I will save what I can.

In honor of starting over, my new friend Maria took me to our local garden club meeting tonight.  It gave me a lot of inspiration and it was great to meet new people.

We are settling in.  We are meeting new people.  Learning our way around a new town.  Going to new schools and signing up at a new library.  Starting over is never easy - even when Mat and I have done it 9 times. 

I sat in the library tonight with new faces and new friends and thought of my friends in Salem.  Thought about the meetings at that library and the fun we had.  It was weird to be in a new place without them.  Just hard to wrap my mind around the fact that we aren't visiting.  This is where we are now.

As much as we love meeting new people and grow our circle of friends, it still is an adjustment each and every time we move somewhere new.

So - I heaved a heavy sigh this morning in my new yard.  As I thought of my old yard and when I had just a few weeks ago.

And then I started pulling weeds.

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."