Starting Over – Again

I am so grateful for all the readers who responded to my last post, some by private email.  So many suggestions for how to fill the hole left when I was no longer taking daily care of my infant granddaughter.

By far the most common, and useful, advice was “Take time to grieve.”  Followed by “Start a new project”.

I did that. I took a week off to read a 600-page novel, lie on the couch and watch an entire season of Digging for Britain and Amazing Water Gardens, and walk. Slowly, shelved writing projects began to re-enter my consciousness, and ideas for completely new projects found their way into my dreams and musings.

The Kindness of Others

A reader/friend, another granny nanny,  drove an hour and a half to meet me at the Getty Museum for a few hours of escape coupled with understanding commiseration and a posh meal. Several people sent notes, and others posted on the blog.

All of this was helpful, and I’m nearly back to my usual optimism. Thank you for your support, and the reminders that we all go through multiple transitions throughout our lives. Starting again is what we do – over and over and over. At the end of high school. Of college. When a romantic relationship ends. When we lose a job or move to a new home. I entered a low period when I finished my first book; when I finally achieved a doctoral degree; when my children left for college; when my partner passed away.

Those reminders were life-savers.  I’d done this before. I could do it again.

Baby Steps

I took a long-delayed trip to Washington D.C. to visit my youngest daughter’s family, and meet my Covid grandbaby.

I cleaned out my walk-in closet all the way back to the walls.

I rearranged my books.

I joined my son and his family at my first Fourth of July fireworks in years. (I usually stay home with Kismet, who hates fireworks, but my apartment is in a sheltered spot so I let myself celebrate.)

Finally, I drove north to Santa Cruz to connect with long-neglected friends and two other of my adult children. And discovered that I have, actually, moved on. I’m enjoying my visit – I’m still here – and catching up on the news. But I’m already starting to fidget, looking forward to returning home and digging into new projects, meeting new friends, and enjoying whatever else southern California has to offer.

I’m back.

Thank you. Marlene

Marlene Anne Bumgarner writes primarily about food, family, and traditions. Her 2020 memoir, Back to the Land in Silicon Valley, is about raising children, animals, and vegetables on a rural plot of land in the 1970s.   Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic ) Families will be out soon. Her next project is a book about Grandparenting, and in her spare time, she is plotting a cozy mystery.