FOR EVERY SEASON

TURN, TURN, TURN

My last posting with the Growing Bolder community was right after Michael Jackson's death. I was not so overcome with grief that I could not put fingers to a laptop but I was overcome with a lethargy I'm not used to. I had been used to being full of energy and having ideas pop out on a regular basis for future projects I couldn't wait to accomplish. But as I said, I seemed to stall out. All I could manage to do was come home, walk The Mish, change into shorts and an old tee, lay on my soft couch and watch Larry King bury and eulogize one more person I had grown up with. Michael, Farrah, Uncle Walter, Teddy (now I've buried all three of the famous Kennedy brothers), Dominick Dunne, Patrick Swayze. With every show I sank deeper and deeper into my couch and thought more and more about everyone's eventual and ultimate fate. I was fixated on a "what's the use we're all going to die anyway" attitude and no one was helping to pull me out of it. This was going to have to be one of those times the physician would have to heal thyself or herself in my case.

The diagnosis was simple- get my brain back in gear. So, step 1 was to stop watching Larry King and step 2 was to remember things I used to do that made me happy that I don't do any more. The actual action plan took a little time but I traded my hard top for a convertible and signed up for a masters degree in religion from The Harvard Extension School. And yes, I gave up Larry King. So that's where I've been for 3 months. Elizabeth, where have you been?

-Deedra Hunter

  Well, Deedra, since we last blogged, things have been just as turbulent on my end. I was in transition living on a farm in Connecticut after my journey in India. I was feeling anxious about how the next chapter of my life would read. Would it be a good one? Would it be one to skim over and come back to? Well, Brandon got a job in Chicago so we packed up our life once again and were off to a new city. Usually I am all for this venture. It wasn't until we were biking leisurely through Millennium Park that I stopped in the middle of the path and exclaimed, "I'm kinda tired of doing this." I was getting overwhelmed with the never ending moving. Usually I welcomed a new start, but when I really sat down to think about it, moving around is just another excuse to avoid the things that build up in your subconscious. Moving to a new place doesn't really give you a new start, it's just another place to store your baggage. So I decided that from now on, every life choice would have purpose. I don't know where we'll be next, but what I do know is that the next move will be for a while. Somewhere I can lay down some roots. Adventuring, while romantic and quite the rush, doesn't replace the feeling of home. Since we arrived I've begun to bake once a week, for it is a goal of mine to open my own bakery in 5 years. I'm tired of talking about things. I'm in the mood to do them.

-Elizabeth Whittemore