Celebrating the Ordinary – Second Day
It’s the second day of Marie’s blog challenge in Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer. We are celebrating the ordinary, expressing gratitude for the “little things” that make our lives so special. See Marie’s latest post for a list of bloggers who are participating in this photogenic exercise.
Today I am choosing to feature a family home that is being sold tomorrow to some strangers. It served its purpose when our family all lived together, when our sons attended school, when happier times glued us into a unit.
In February the front yard displayed a canopy of pink blooms from our flowering plum trees. These trees landed us a Garden of the Month award from our local garden club. Daffodils also dotted the landscape along with a faux river that graced the curb. In September the mums would cover our brick lighting fixture with pink majesty, a shade that pink ribbons and merchandise can’t approximate. Pomegranate fruit dripped from trees laden with the magical fruit.
The back yard provided lush competition for the front yard, especially in June when the blanket roses covered archways and fences and the trio of gingko trees provided feng shui.
But that chapter of my life is now closed. The new owners inevitably will change the landscape, shaping it to what they want it to be, planting their own favorite flowers and bushes and trees. The insects and birds that populated our yard may wonder why changes were made that might not be as hospitable to them. But that’s how life goes. The only thing constant in this world is change.
And that’s okay.
I’m grateful to give up this majestic home for a simpler life, one filled with more friends than plants. One filled with more freedom. One that doesn’t require as much pruning. My everyday life has been uprooted and transplanted, all for the better.
Oh Jan, this made me cry – it is such a bittersweet post. What a stunning garden – a real labor of love..and the title of Shakespere’s Love Labor’s Lost keeps going round in my mind. I am so sorry that life has dealt you this blow, but you continue to be an inspiration to all of us in your dignity and faith in picking up the pieces and facing forward into a new chapter in your life.
I know it must be very hard, Jan, to leave this part of your past behind.
I wish you many more beautiful things in your future.
Oh Marie, I didn’t mean to make anyone cry. I cling to the photos as something I can paint (I actually did paint the one with mums, and it is hanging on a wall) as a memory of happier times. This huge garden was a lot for me to keep up mostly by myself, so I do feel free from all the weeding, deadheading, and pruning that once was integral to my life. I’ll have to read that “Love Labor’s Lost.” Sounds totally appropriate. I think cancer taught me how to pick up the pieces and move upward, providing any inspiration I can. xox
Yes, Lois, it’s not easy. I’ve written a few poems on leaving that past, but they are not something I could really share publicly. I’ll have to come up with some anesthetized ones. Your poignant poems inspire me to think along those lines. Thank you for your lovely comment and your well wishes. xox
Definitely the only constant thing is change. These photos are beautiful, and I can understand why they are bittersweet. I am so happy you are embracing this new change in your life. I can relate as someone who had to make a similar change and move away and sell a condo that held happier times for my ex-husband and me.
You will find, if you haven’t already what I have, that the life with freedom is filled with amazing blessings.
Jan, It is hard to say goodbye, but it is also very freeing, as you are experiencing. I’ve no doubt you will continue to create great beauty in the present and the future, just as you have in the past. Your writing is but one of those beauties!
Beth, thank you so much for the encouragement. I’m indeed embracing the new change and am comforted to know I am not alone, that you had to make a similar move from happier times. Life with freedom indeed has its blessings, as I’m learning day by day. I so appreciate your words of support. You certainly have made a beautiful life for yourself and your darling daughter. xox
Oh, Renn, you are so sweet. Saying goodbye to one thing means saying hello to another. And what you say hello to can be better than anything from the past. Thank you for expressing confidence in me for the present and future. And thank you so much for your encouraging words about my writing. Your writing touches me in wonderful ways. xox
Jan,
What a beautiful place to live! I can only imagine how painful it was to realize the family life you’d created inside was not as pretty. It’s healthy that you’ve learned to let go and seek new beauty and new people to be your family.
I love you and your ability to continue on, regardless.
Brenda
Yes, the surroundings were beautiful in every season. And yes, it was devastating to think that the home life I loved and cared for was riddled with pain and heartache. Learning to let go is the extraordinary piece of ourselves often hidden within the ordinary confines of daily life. I now have a beautiful new family of friends who care about me. Including my wonderful bloggess friends like you and so many others. I love you, too, Brenda. Thanks for caring. xox
Oh Jan, this is such a heartfelt post, and one which I can relate closely to right now. It is such a strange time moving on, and so much is embedded in the surroundings which we have lived in and played a part in creating. I am trying to come to terms with a similar but different situation and had already been planning on focusing on that for today’s image. Another compelling example of synchronicity.
Thank you for sharing, and what a beautiful pace you have created. xoxox
Jan,
This is absolutely beautiful. I love your vision for your new home, for your bright and beautiful future. I hope before these photo-journals are finished, we will see where the next chapter begins.
xoxoxox
[...] the Lilies, Nancy’s Point, The Big C and Me, The Pink Underbelly and Martine’s and Jan’s blogs, and even Philippa was sweeping leaves in hers..so here is my tree contribution [...]
Philippa, I’m always amazed at how many of our thoughts are in sync: trees, flowers, peaceful settings, moving on. I don’t know if I will ever visit that home again. Perhaps at some point down the road I should knock on the door and see if I can at least get a back yard tour. Or maybe not. Maybe part of moving on is remembering the place as it was when I took the photos. Thanks so much for your insightful comment and your affirmation. xox
I’m sure I’ll have new photos down the road capturing my reshaped life. There’s so much to which I look forward as I envision my new life. Just today I made an offer on another house – a bold move that I couldn’t have done alone even two years ago. Maybe in a few years I’ll make that house into a home and haven for my boys when they need a refuge from life. Thanks so much for visiting here, AnneMarie. It means oodles to me. xoxo
FYI….. I visit often… it’s the commenting part…. I get very distracted…. Today.. I’m distracted by all of the “sync’ing”….. go over to Katie’s post…. Uneasy Pink…. You will see what I mean!
Oh, AnneMarie, you are so sweet to mention that you visit often. I know myself how time-consuming commenting can be, so I appreciate every comment that everyone makes and every “invisible” visit. I just went over to Katie’s post. It truly is amazing how our lives are in such sync. We are bound by so much more than just breast cancer. xox
What a poignant piece of writing, Jan. The whole time I was reading it, I kept thinking about what it is that makes a house a home, that which transcends the bricks and mortar, the plants and pools, and sustains us and those who care about us. Whatever that is, it will carry you forward.
y
Yvonne, you are so right about what makes a house a home. I could live in a shack surrounded by weeds if human agape love, the kind that our pet dogs lavish upon us, permeated the insides. Thanks for your loving support. xox
Jan,
Selling this home had to be so hard, Jan. A home is so full of memories. You have faced so much change and turmoil of late and yet you continue to inspire me by how you choose to look at your life’s transformation. I’m in awe of you, my friend. Hugs.
It most certainly was hard to leave that home with all it embodied. But I move on, confident that my future looms bright. I appreciate your support, Nancy. And I feel your hugs.
xox