Feeling Good...

And there's no really magical reason. I just feel.... GOOD. Centered. Happy. I take walks with Noah a few times a week, and I think that has played a big part in my mood upswing. I feel like, even with a busy, growing, nearly-mobile baby, as a stay-at-home mom I have more time to get things done. I feel productive, inspired, content, appreciated by my husband and family and friends, and buoyed up with strength to face our new, leaner, less-consumerist lifestyle. I feel... right. This is right. I am doing exactly what I was born to be doing.

And yes,the artist/wanderer/culture-lover in me still exists... still craves an outlet. I want those things too... but there is a season, a time, and a place for all of it. And right now, this is the season of nurturing children and fostering a home of comfort and peace in a loud, noisy world. I am okay with this season. I am okay not going to the symphony, to Europe, to a week in the Tetons... I am okay with the little bursts of creativity I find time for, even though it is never enough to complete a masterpiece. Today, this is who I am, and it is more than enough to sustain me.

One day, the little ones will be gone, off on their own adventures, and I will once again have time for the theater, for a potter's wheel, for writing my memoirs.

For now, I am completely happy, today.

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Images of home-caring contentment:

{laundry getting done. Check.}
(see Winston? He's been around lately. He'll probably show up in photos now and again. Hi, Winston.)

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{a kitchen cleared of dishes. Morning is cleaned up... ready for something else.}
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{my computer workspace. here is music, photo editing, blogging, internet wandering, my little business, connecting with friends... the strange but nice little heart of our apartment.}
(Jodie, that's you on the screen. Ha! See? I AM working on those photos...)

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And.... a HAPPY UPDATE:

Remember this? The storage room spilleth over... Argh!


That is now THIS:the key to this AFTER photo is all that carpet space. That was FULL. Now it is NOT. I gave away so much Stuff (capital-S Stuff). And the rest of the Stuff is compact and compiled and sorted and orderly. Lordy that feels good. Now we can move someday and I won't be as humiliated that my friends and family helping us will see that accumulation of Stuff. It is probably still too much, but MUCH better.

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And remember THIS? The hallway of shame, ever-worsening from August 2007 until this summer? The first view of our living space anyone gets when they come to visit? (the HORROR. So embarrassing!)


That is now THIS:
Cozy! Charming! Inviting! CLEAR OF CRAP! (ah, the alliteration is so satisfying!)

So much better. Such a weight off of my heart and mind.

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(but to be totally honest, it's not completely clear:)The foreground of this photo reveals the teensy little things I have left to do here: a pile of Craigslist stuff, a small leftover pile of Goodwill stuff, and our recent garbage that needs to be taken out. (Joe? Got a minute?)

Still.... C'MON. Tell me that wouldn't make YOU feel a hundred pounds lighter, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, nutritionally, psychically, (and any other "--ly")?

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So... Long story short: I feel GOOD. I feel light. I feel at peace. I am right where I want to be.
I love it.