Today, I sit in my office, a large sunroom, watching a variety of birds at the feeder. Two baby blackbirds were hanging out at the bird bath earlier, waiting patiently for their parents to crack sunflower seeds for them. One couldn't ask for a more beautiful day. The snapdragons are blooming beside the spent irises. The hollyhocks are about three-feet tall now. They won't bloom before I'm gone.
In two weeks my life will change. I will be spending my first full day in my new home (a rented room in Lafayette) and Tom and I will no longer be living under the same roof. Perhaps he will be on his way to Illinois at that point.
It's strange to ponder, like awaiting a death. My life as I know it is terminal and it will drastically change overnight.
Since I last posted, I was offered a room by a new friend and I began working with my first client as a personal assistant. I'm not making a livable wage yet, but other work is on the horizon and I seem to encounter a new opportunity every week. I've booked a decent amount of summer gigs, though nearly all of them are "tips only" gigs. I'll be playing at three different farmers' markets in the coming months, something I haven't done too often in the past. Summer and I will be well-acquainted this year.
I finally started going through household items today, separating the things to be packed, the things to be sold, and the things to given away. Everything I own will need to fit in my room or a 10x15 storage space. More importantly, it will have to fit in a way that I can access things. That's going to require some very organized packing.
Though it's a lot of work, I'm looking forward to traveling lighter. I've wanted to pare things down for a long time. Tom and I did a decent job of weeding things out three years ago when we moved to Superior, but there are clearly items that I don't need that have been stored in closets, unopened.
I am seriously entertaining the idea of finding a truck and camper or tiny RV to travel/live in. I would love to hit the road and tour a bit, but I'll have to see how the next couple months shake out. One thing is for sure: the future is wide open and anything can happen.
