Saturday, March 16, 2013

Transition


It’s – not quite spring.

You can tell it wants to be. I saw my first robin three weeks ago. The sun is strong and melty. The porters and stouts are slowly disappearing from the taps.

It won’t be long before buds will start to pop, coats will get stowed away, and our pale Minnesota skin will get its first splash of color.

Transition.

I wish I could say it was just the weather.

I’m very much a creature of habit – a fussy Virgo. I like my things just so. I like to know what I’m going to do each day. I want to know where I’m going to get my coffee. I don’t want the day to suddenly get one hour longer.

So why am I an IT consultant? Why do I have a job that can change on a dime, and take me to God only knows where?

Why am I choosing to move? Why am I cleaning out, digging through old memories, sorting away those I want to keep and wincing as I throw away those that no longer hold the meeting they once did?

And what am I doing with my writing? I’m so close to done – months away from being a bona fide published author – and yet my day job and the move pull me away and into chaos.

Transition.

And yet I’m thankful for all of it.

I’m blessed to work with good people, to have the means to move, and to have the time – however little it seems some days – to write.

Here’s to transition – and may it settle the fuck down.

5 comments:

Mark Teats said...

Hey, is that a picture of my ice-dam?

Good luck with the new job and the move. I know I find it hard to focus (on writing) when there are other transitions going on in my life. May things settle down for you soon--and make some time during all the chaos for your writing! That may help ground you when everything else is up in the air.

Qlaudie said...

Some of my favorite descriptions of the signs of spring ever!
Excellent... and good luck with all the moving, moving, moving...

Shawn Enderlin said...

Mark, yes, I've been lurking outside your house. Since I'm in the neighborhood and all.

Claudia, thanks. :-)

Lisa said...

One of my favorite dystopias (Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower) makes a religion of change. The opening lines are:

"All that you touch,
You Change.

All that you Change,
Changes you.

The only lasting truth
Is Change.

God
Is Change."

So, go with God, I guess.

Jon said...

Moving? To where? Closer to civilization? Moving is such a hassle. I can sympathize with the lack of writing time or space, but I've found that even if I can't settle in and work sometimes setting and accomplishing smaller goals helps to alleviate the stress of it all. Organize notes, do some edits, etc. Good luck with the move.