the blue yonder
Posted on | April 24, 2010 | 19 Comments
My last post sounded pretty dire, didn’t it? I didn’t mean for it to. It was the result of too many days back to back of intense writing until 2AM in combination with a massive to-do list and a heap of uncertainty that brought out my most fragile, anxious self. But the truth is: this is a really exciting time for us! We’re poised on the brink of reinvention, and neither of us really know what that will look like, but it will most certainly will include adventure, and learning new things, and redefining what matters, and the prospect of this makes me joyful.
In so many ways we’ve done things backwards from our friends and peers. We had kids first and made this place home before we we were thirty. Now we’ve got these two awesome kids and a whole universe of possibility and zero money and a heap of adventures just waiting to be had. I”m not just saying this. I am really (finally) at a place of throwing my arms wide open to the universe, ready to leap into the wild blue yonder; full of hope and abundance.
It’s been an interesting process getting to here. When we first found this house, I was terrified of making a Home. Terrified of putting down roots and having something stake a claim on my soul the way I knew this place would. I’ve always said: what else? What if? When? I’ve always wanted the option of going, of travel, of doing something different. I’ve always, at the end of the day been a girl with a wanderlust affliction.
Now that I know who my kids are, and what they’re like as little people in the world….I can imagine living other places with them. We’re a pretty cool family unit, the four of us. T and I (despite his laundry neglect) work as a team almost seamlessly, and I’ve never had any one in my life who is more of a champion of my writing or a bigger fan of my art than he is…. We don’t require a lot when it’s all said and done, and if there is one thing that’s true, it’s our shared love for learning new things.
So.
Maybe.
Maybe anything at all. Maybe we’ll stay here. Maybe we’ll head to somewhere else. T. is excited by the prospect of different work in a way I could never have imagined him to be. It’s like a weight has been lifted from him: and he’s full of determination and enthusiasm, and we’re all keeping our fingers crossed. (Cross your fingers too, will you?)
Have you ever reinvented yourself? Changed an outlook, a job, a lifestyle, a location.
Also: A Field Guide To Now is becoming it’s own adventure. It’s SO CLOSE. Please help to make the funding happen (remember, it’s all or nothing). I have a question for you about the book: what would you be drawn to more? A straight-up illustrated essay collection, or a book that also offers some little invitations to you about ways to be an explorer in the moments of your life, right now as it is? It would be so helpful to hear your thoughts about this!
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19 Responses to “the blue yonder”
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I am Christina Rosalie
Hello. I'm so happy you've stopped by!
I am a multimedia storyteller, digital strategist, idea starter, stalker of wonder, finder of four leaf clovers, MFA graduate student, and mama of boys. My first book,
will be published by SKIRT! Books in September, 2012.
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April 24th, 2010 @ 12:07 pm
Just last November we moved from Kansas to Boston. It’s still a process of adjusting, but as much as we love and miss our roots, we’re happy where we transplanted! And as much as I love reading essays that inspire me, I’m intrigued by the possibilities of invitations to explore life – I think it would be very engaging!
April 24th, 2010 @ 12:27 pm
It sounds like a thrilling, life-expanding kind of time around your neck of the woods; I’m so excited for the four of you! About the book… I have a feeling I might be in the minority here, but I jive more with the idea of just essays and illustrations, more like a standard field guide. I’d want my imagination to use your words as a jumping platform rather than have any steps spelled out. Either way, I am so tremendously looking forward to reading it!
April 24th, 2010 @ 4:24 pm
A new job can be as scary and terrifying as it can be exciting and exhilarating!
April 24th, 2010 @ 5:34 pm
Why, yes! I am in the process of reinventing myself right now!
I have been at home with my kids for NINE years. Before that I was a teacher in an elementary school (k-2). This fall I am jumping into my new job that is quite a ways away from my comfort zone. I am really excited, and really anxious. My husband, as I commented before, is balancing on the tight rope still in his job. The outlook teeters from positive to negative depending on the day. He is also looking forward. Trying to figure out what to do if the worst happens. It is an exciting place if you choose to look at it as a second chance, a chance to follow your heart!
As for your field guide, I am going to have to agree with Bethany. I always think that the assignments will be so rewarding, but then it ends up feeling a little like homework. But either way I am so excited to read it!
April 24th, 2010 @ 5:50 pm
we are in the process of a big change as i write this. a move from NJ to CA in just 7 weeks time – a move we’ve wanted for a long time, but we were letting fear, comfort and familiarity rule our decisions and that’s never a good basis for decision making, so! here we are, with movers and car transporters and boxes and we’re moving and my husband’s job will be very much the same and my life will be very different. but we’ll be by the beach and close to my parents and both of those things make everything else seem small.
April 24th, 2010 @ 6:49 pm
I think I’m with Bethany & Megsie, for the most part, in regards to the invitations, but you know what? When you ask questions, you get answers. And that kind of thing, even if it could maybe, sometimes, sound like “homework” is still the best way to cause response. It’s there is something needs that extra nudge, but otherwise they can just enjoy the words and illustrations you offer, and for some people that will be all the inspiration and motivation they need. Others may really be appreciative of that little extra invitation.
I reinvented myself (to a certain degree) when I moved to Sweden, and again when I became a mother. Since my children were born, I feel I’ve been struggling with a continuing reinvention of myself. And I feel right now, as if I’ve been in a sort of cocoon for the last year or so: one of complacency. One that I need to break out of soon!! Time for reinvention and butterfly wings and FLIGHT.
April 24th, 2010 @ 8:21 pm
so happy to hear your positivity!!
April 25th, 2010 @ 6:29 am
Fingers crossed! Hoping we talk this week!
As I thought about A Field Guide to Now, and your questions, and people’s comments… maybe not little activities that end up feeling like homework, but maybe questions? You ask such good questions; I could see questions to the reader incorporated somewhere in each entry.
April 25th, 2010 @ 9:15 am
We definitely took a leap of faith to move away from our comfortable home town, rich with friends – all in the hopes of a better job and for me, fulfilling my dream to stay home with our kiddo. Nearly two years later, it’s paying off – Beaux will start day shift in two weeks, hallelujah! He enjoys his job and continues to go “up: – I’m really proud, and most of all, happy that my husband is happy in his job. I know T will find the right place for him, and your life together will blossom into more than you thought it could be.
Here’s a thought: I also gravitate towards the essays/illustrations route, but questions are also a good thing: what if you did questions, and gave a few of them out to US and let us report back our experience? And then you could stick that in the book. So it’s a question, and an experience, and it won’t feel too homework-y?
April 25th, 2010 @ 12:49 pm
ah reinvention, travel, the possibility of change, resistance to being rooted… these are all things i struggle towards/against as i have been such a wanderer so much of my adult life and as i now have accepted a full-time (salaried!) job for which i’ve given a verbal commitment to stick around to do for a while. it frightens me. i’m coming up on two years in this place and that usually means: time to make plans! move on! find a new community! see more of the world! but yet, here i form semblances of roots that i haven’t done in quite a while. i’m hopeful and scared… ah, to not be in this place alone. relief! thanks for sharing.
about the field guide. i am prone to like the idea of invitations (especially with that word as opposed to homework) as i can be a very heady and idealistic person who has trouble with the action steps. i also like the thought the commenter just above had about sending out some questions prior to the book’s publishing to include answers/stories from us as examples in the book. i learn so much from others, so to have small tidbits of others experiences with pursuing life NOW, along with your beautiful essays and illustrations, of course, could be nice.
hope the money comes for this to be a GO!
April 25th, 2010 @ 1:00 pm
I love invitations. Skimming the other comments, I was surprised to think of them as “assignments” or “homework”, as “questions” where what immediately came to my mind when reading your initial one. So yes: I think questions are great invitations, an interaction couldn’t get simpler than that. Plus, I really love them right here on your blog, too – they reach out and make a connection with me right here. I do really love your essays, too, but the idea of actually being asked something through your book, something I can think about far beyond, makes me excited.
April 25th, 2010 @ 1:19 pm
not dire, i actually sensed a calm positive feel from you, just believe…
April 25th, 2010 @ 2:06 pm
I think i’m on the fence! I like the idea of just essay’s/illustrations… thus allowing your words images to spark a note in the reader to go beyond. But agree, you always ask interesting questions at the end of your blog posts so i can totally see that in there… not much help!
April 26th, 2010 @ 8:46 am
Ditto what Kim said!
Also, on the subject of reinventing ourselves, I am not so great with change. I thrive in familiar situations and am not one to really deviate too much from that. Well, all that changed about 5 years ago and while I am proud of myself for the changes I have made and gone through, there is so much more I want and need to do to complete reinventing myself! Then again, perhaps that is something that is never complete. We go through life changing and reinventing, and I’m just learning (at the age of 47) that that’s OKAY and, I’m even kinda good at it
April 26th, 2010 @ 9:15 am
I think I probably imposed my viewpoint on your post a wee to much, hm?! I met w/that attorney on Fri & it turns out our situation is not as “bad” as I had thought, so I’m feeling more powerful, too!
Glad for both of us!! As for your question…I like the invitations idea, too. You kind of do that at the end of your blog posts just naturally…ask a question, or invite a comment. Sometimes I miss the obvious, so some direction is nice.
April 26th, 2010 @ 11:37 am
the second option!
sounds like an exciting time for your family, and the project – is so close! i am pulling for you.
April 26th, 2010 @ 12:04 pm
I often find questions in blogs to be transparently fake. There must be a “how to blog” series out there that instructs new bloggers: “Here’s how to get your readers to leave comments”. The writer would probably change that to a positive: “How’s to get your reader to join the conversation.”
My vote would be essays and illustrations.
April 26th, 2010 @ 9:01 pm
Whatever you do, I know you will follow your heart, and because of that, it will be WONDERFUL.
Re-invention is such an emotional process. I have done it in the past, and am doing it again right now — in such a huge way, I can’t even imagine what it looks like, or how it will go. But I know I can rely on my strength, and on my family’s love for each other. (Even if it’s a family of 2 + the dog.)
As for the book, I think it would be more powerful, more lovely, if it didn’t direct self-reflection. Your writing over the last several years has often prompted self-reflection for me, and I appreciate that it isn’t directed. (Also, have I really been reading your blog this long? Wow!)
I can’t wait to see what’s in store for you and your family.
April 26th, 2010 @ 11:15 pm
WOW this is exciting….I would love to see a few blank pages in the book to add our own thoughts….I know that you didn’t ask that question…but I think that would add even more to this wonderful journey…….just a thought!!
Blessings…..I am sure that this will all come true.