Divorce . Gardening . Retirement . The General
Nine to Five No More
On May 28, 2019 by Speranza
It’s been almost two months to the day since I cleared out my desk and began my (super early) retirement. I have purposefully not shared this information here because it is has been such a churning and peculiar adjustment, full of highs and lows, more than a few bracing 3 am walks around the hardwood floors but mostly, because I fear being judged as old and irrelevant, there I said it.
Buddhism . Divorce . Introspection
Judgement Day
On July 10, 2017 by Speranza
It’s always strange to me how certain moments in your life are especially memorable even it they have no reason to be and can be recalled again and again with complete clarity. I remember parking on a free-lined street nearly nine years ago now and since I was early for an appointment decided to just wait in the car till it was closer to the time. It was mid-morning, someone was cutting their grass so the air was filled with that luscious green smell of fresh earth and sweetness. I was sleep-deprived and close to tears (again) as it was not long after my husband had left. As I watched, I saw a pewter Subaru pull into the driveway of a well-maintained home with a tangled English garden in front and fat bumblebees were lowering themselves into hooded flowers. A woman with a blondish-grey ponytail pulled sleekly through the back of a navy baseball hat got out of the car and carefully balancing a Starbucks cup, frisked up the steps in form-fitting running gear before absent-mindedly pointing the car keys over her shoulder to chook-chook the lock. Then the house door clicked shut and she was gone from my view.
Anxiety . Christmas . Divorce . Grey Divorce . The General
Christmas Past and Present
On January 7, 2016 by Speranza
I was really rattled this Christmas when I suddenly realized that I could scale back the baking considerably. I was also more suspicious than relieved. The need for a pyramid of mincemeat tarts, hamper-sized bags of potato chips and a massive raft of San Pellegrino usually associated with the weeks leading up to the holidays would just not be required this year; worse still, even though I have had neither of my boys living at home for more than a year now, I have somehow been unconsciously assuming that the situation was temporary and that soon everything would revert to its Normal State.
Whatever that is.
Christmas is a bit tricky too because there’s no one at home and then everyone returns home for a day or two, here and there, maybe dropping in for a dinner just long enough to reignite all the same maternal brain-patterns as before: sock donuts may be left tucked into the couch, fancy Christmas hand towels are hung up with the pattern on the inside or not hung up at all and why doesn’t someone text if they won’t be back till 3:30am when they are staying over …