Transitions..

I started writing this last week…

I’m sitting here in my “princess chair” this morning.  The house is empty for the first time in weeks. Amanda and David are flying back to Washington DC, Michael to Chicago, and Alex is back in school. It is snowing outside. There is something lovely, yet unsettling about the quietness of the house. I look over at my dry and droopy Christmas tree, which I don’t like to take down until the kids have left and chuckle to myself, thinking: “It is definitely time to relieve you of those ornaments, dear friend.”

This time of transition comes around every year in our house. The relishing of meaningful events of Christmas, with its fun, crazy, chaotic family togetherness, but then knowing you need to pack up that Christmas “stuff” to make room. Room for the new, that which lies ahead and yes.....some routine again.

The growing Peters Family

A "shower" for Amanda

This year the change and transition feels especially present. The other day was Amanda’s last night in our home as an “unmarried women”. Our two oldest kids sorted through boxes of their “old stuff” because this was their last time in this house before we have to move some time this spring. This was the last Christmas in our lovely home here in Holzen. What lies ahead is full of life, potential and possibilities. A new place to live, welcoming a new son-in-law, new paths and opportunities for Michael as he graduates from college in the spring, new work-related opportunities for both Phil and I…and yet at the same time lots of “unknowns”.  So I sit hear this morning, in this “in-between” time and space, this transition, pausing a little, reflecting with a lot of emotion, catching my breath and not wanting to rush "what was" away.

I used to run track. One of my events was the 400-meter relay. Some of of you know I love to run - I don’t have to think much, I just put the running shoes on and go. But the success in a relay runs really depends on the transitions, the “passing of the baton” as they call it. It needs to be thought through, prepared, practiced and timed right. I never liked that part of the relay and to be honest I find that I don’t much like the present and upcoming transitions either.  It is probably because of the age I am at.  There is a lot of letting go, and the future “unknowns” don’t quite seem as exciting.  Can anyone relate?  I do realize though that they are very important. They can redefine you. They present opportunities in which we have choices. A choice of attitude, perspective, of new questions, of direction, and a choice to reaffirm the why I choose it all in the first place!

Life is not just the transition. The bigger picture tells the whole story - my story, your story … but how we go about those transitions is key! 

As I finish writing this blog, the Christmas decorations are all packed up, snow is still on the ground, and my head and heart, surrounded and held by ‘my Maker’ who created me with a purpose, are again buzzing with renewed ideas, ways to serve, a desire to communicate my passion, and a motivation to press on. There is so much still to do!