The circle closed at 7:25pm this past Friday, after a 9 hour drive where I had navigated along an unexpected, stunning California backroad, as well as excruciating, creeping, crawling, stopped Los Angeles and Orange County freeways. It’s what time it was when I climbed back up onto the rock at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, a glass of chardonnay in hand, ready to take in the sunset that I had anticipated all day.

This was one of those sacred moments of perfection that comes when a circle is neatly and precisely closed….
           ACCOMPLISHMENT
           SATISFACTION
           SAFETY
           CONTENTMENT

I had returned.
I was HOME.

Home is an interesting concept for me to contemplate. I have a home that is mine, but no room there for me now. I have a home that is not mine, but is temporarily welcoming me back. They are 3 miles apart from each other and miraculously, as I just calculated, this personal touchstone I’ve called “my rock” for 3 years is situated almost exactly in between both!

After 390 days of traveling wide and far, the circle closes here, a place that seems to me to have been created and crafted just for my body to comfortably slide into. From this perch above the sand, I’ve marveled at countless sunrises and sunsets over a variety of beverages depending on the time of day and the season. Most significantly, I have become aware here – aware of how to navigate through a day, a season, a challenge…..this is my sacred place where my quiet internal has been met allowing me to evolve and to continue to become.

Early morning the day the circle opened, contemplating when I would return and all I didn’t know about what was ahead.

…and this is that moment of pure fulfillment at the realization of the closed circle.

I am compelled to share with you that this is a vast digression from my original intent for the 3rd installment of my blog!  To explain, July 1st marked one year since I began this journey, and I have been working on a post that will take you along these past 12 months.  But my self imposed deadline to publish it on the first of July came and went with barely a first draft scratched out!  As a new blogger (somehow, that title does not feel remotely appropriate!), I meekly acknowledge that I have much to learn about writing a blog.  The process between conceptualizing and publishing is way more involved than I had imagined! 

And so, I humbly take on this role of eager student as I learn…

– to schedule writing time on my calendar and stick to it with no excused distractions

-to SAVE my work before I leave the computer after TWO full writing sessions were lost

-that the writing that happens between the beginning and end takes a LONG time

-that writing to share requires a vastly different, enhanced skillset than journal writing

-that it requires learning a new “language” to build and design a website! And I’m slowly, painstakingly learning this new language. It’s taken months and an immense amount of help to get it to this point, and I have so much more to learn. 

I still confidently claim to be a writer, determined to develop this passion, and to continue my family legacy after my parents, both of who were talented scribes. And I am determined to keep on developing my website skills with the mantra – I can do this!  

I hope that those of you who are here will remain with patience and anticipation as I promise to evolve and to become skilled.  To show you my commitment, I am enrolled in a Zoom workshop next weekend with Anne Lamott as instructor!  And, I am now a member of a Facebook group called – Divi Theme Users for my online support!  No pressure!

In the meantime, I continue working on my 4th post: Twelve Firsts – Part 1.  Part 2 will flow out perfectly in my first draft and will follow a day or two after – in my dreams…