A Weary Traveller
I’ve been out of touch for a while. It’s been an incredible journey and I should have sent a postcard.
Change is afoot in my life. She always has been and often she’s wearing cozy slippers and tip-toeing from room to room, but lately she’s traded her slippers in for steel-toed boots and she’s river-dancing on my roof. This really has been a banner year for Miss Amelia. Here’s a brief breakdown of events.
January: leave soul-squashing, paper-pushing job in geriatric government office
January: start school full-time to become a professional gardener
February: ailing long-term relationship hits thin ice, both parties swim for opposite shores
April: leave sprawling love-nest & move in to a small apartment in town
April to present: try to fit a big-house worth of stuff into a tiny apartment
June: personnel drama begins at school, difficult to learn without instructors
August: start flirting with nicotine addiction (after three years smoke-free—curses!)
September: personnel drama continues at school, difficult to learn without College Director
October: adopt stray cat who happily moves in, learn about Pet Deposit (a first for me)
November: give up said flirtatious behaviour with stinky cigarettes
November: Obama is elected President, by far the coolest thing to happen in my lifetime yet
November: graduate from garden school
November: get job
December: unknown
Reading over this list, there’s a lot that I’ve left out or glossed over but this is the ‘Cole’s Notes’ of my life over the past eleven months. The only constant thing in my life of late is the knowledge that tomorrow may well be different from today. Change. She’s a cunning little beast and sometimes I want to dig in my heels and fight her at every turn, but I wouldn’t trade her for all the world.
None of this really excuses my absence from the halls of the NTC but it does give you some idea of what I’ve been up to. Maybe you’re sitting there reading this thinking “so what! My life has been crazy too.” But we’re not talking about you right now and since I have the floor, it’s all about me.
In eleven days I will officially be finished my schooling and new chapters will be unfolding. This is definitely a welcome change. For one thing, I won’t be spending my evenings writing papers about soil structure and Cation Exchange Capacity (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, consider yourself very lucky indeed). I will have some time to unpack my craft cupboards and play creatively. I can spend a leisurely afternoon catching up with my good friend Grumpelope (last seen on the brink of an office romance). I can take the time to tend my own garden and breathe some new life into the wasteland that is my patio.
It’s true that the future rarely turns out the way we imagine it and there have certainly been some unexpected turns along this latest journey of mine. Despite the dark moments though I have no regrets and I’m looking forward to whatever comes next. I’ll keep you posted!
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