Diving back in!

We know our first book is going to take time - lots of time. Every imaginable life circumstance seems to jump out at us, demanding we pay attention, show up, be accountable. None of us are simply writers. Our lived enthusiasms appear with timelines attached. They arrive in the form of gifts that can shape our lives in jarring ways. No matter how badly we want to work on our book, we say, "Yes!" and set it aside.

For me, these gifts came bundled together into three-months of activity that landed me in the perfect spot to finish my book. A month-long Buddhist retreat was followed immediately by packing not only my place, but my good friend Barrie's as well. And yes, that is the correct spelling, as in Barrie, Ontario.

While I was happily engaged in Vajrayana practice in a hut in the woods of Galiano Island, Barrie bought a house there. And while moving to in a fairly isolated rural setting by yourself in your seventies would be a challenge for most any city dweller, doing it with 5% eyesight was unimaginable. To make it even more interesting, the house he bought is not just some knocked-together island summer cottage, but a luxury pre-fab. A gorgeous place he can't see, but I can. And the irony of that, after spending 3 decades of my life as an interior designer, will make for some really good stories.

But what I plan to do first is finish what I've started. The Plunge awaits, as does my new writing studio, located right beyond the Happy Buddha in my garden.