This is the last day of 2021. I am happy to see it in the rearview mirror, just as I was with 2020. On our walk today, I was talking with my husband about the last year. It did have its ups and downs. The biggest up being that we have moved to Texas. Met my own goal of moving before the end of the year. Barely. But we did it.
For the first time in what, over twenty years? there was no travel that involved flying at all this year. In 2020, I did my last European trip with students in January. We also flew down to Atlanta to visit a grad school friend in early March.
This year we did drive to upstate New York to visit a former student of mine, now friend for Memorial Day weekend. That was fun. We drove through our old neighborhood and checked out a couple of other places we used to haunt. We managed a day trip to Rehoboth Beach as well. That was my only beach time this summer. We also became regulars at the little café on the Schuylkill River path. Nothing like an outdoor bar to hang out at during the year.
My second book came out in March (I’m working on the third, but life got in the way) and I had three short stories come out in three different anthologies. I am enjoying writing and very happy I took this plunge. I am already starting on organizing myself and prioritizing writing so that I can do everything I have planned.
And of course, our big move down to Texas. We made a house-hunting trip in early November. That was a bit rushed and frantic, but we did manage to have dinner with a friend in the middle of all of that which was a welcome respite. Then, of course we spent the rest of November frantically packing. The movers came the Monday after Thanksgiving and we headed out the next day. Arrived in Texas on the first of December. Whew! Moved before the end of the year!
This last month has been filled with the necessary chores of unpacking, buying stuff for the house, arranging furniture, hanging pictures, getting husband’s office and my writing space set up. The house is almost fully set up now. There are still some smaller things that need to be taken care of. A friend is already planning on visiting in February, so I have that as a hard deadline to get things fully settled.
We have managed to do some exploring and, I’m very happy we found a beach! It’s on the lake, but it has sand and sun and water. I’m good. I still want to get to an ocean beach, but this will do for the time being. We’ve explored one historical museum, and an historic district, we’ve found a couple of parks and walked through those. And we’ve had dinner out with friends. So we’re learning our way around.
I’m looking forward to 2022. It will be an adventure no matter what happens.
Image by Rainer Maiores from Pixabay
