A couple of years later....

Wow...life certainly has transformed in the past couple of years, some through well thought out choices, bravely taking big steps towards change without any guarantees, and some through the ebb and flow to the world around us. 

Often I have thought of reviving this blog, even though I had temporarily changed to a different platform.  This is my original and so to blogger I return. I had switched to WordPress as it is easier to monetize and adapt for money making, but I realized that doing so took something away from my personal reasons for writing.  Of course every blogger would love to have a small residual income off their blog.  But for me, making money is not why I started a blog, nor why I want to blog.  And even if it did not earn a few cents here and there, I would still recommend the books that I do because I think my readers could benefit from them. 

I blog to share my journey, good and bad, with others, as I believe we all can benefit from the perspectives and experiences of others.  While we each need to walk our own journey, we can walk beside each other and learn from each other as our paths cross or our roads travel in the same direction for a time. 

This blog is about transformation--the intentional altering of perceptions and actions to change the experience of life.  It is about trying to live proactively in both big and small ways to make life better, for myself, for my family, for my friends and loved ones, for my community, for my state, for my country, for our species, for the world, for all of creation.  For me this blog speaks to my journey in Tikkun Olam--literally meaning To repair the world (Heb)--a Jewish Concept I learned about may years ago in an amazing class in college taught by Marv Wilson.

The past few years for me have been a time of many changes which has resulted in transformation, some events out of my control, some proactive choices of my own:

• the unexpected death of my former spouse whom had become one of my best friends and an active co-parent of our children in June 2017
• dealing with the many challenges of my youngest sons brain damage combined with puberty, which got very bad in 2017 and 2018
• taking an extended leave from work to try to manage the kids needs and my own health needs in 2018
• reconnecting with my estranged spouse to get a divorce only to rekindle our marriage instead
• finally deciding to move with my children nearly 2000 miles to a totally different climate to be closer to some of my family (which took me very far from other family members who I miss so much)
• Learning to live in Florida when I have always lived in the North-East--a very different climate--both physically (as no "real" winter) and culturally (a bit of shock and adjustment)
• Working with my mother on her doughnut business, taking over while she had and healed from spinal surgery; 
• taking care of my baby niece when my sister worked which was so much fun
• managing with my oldest sons very difficult and lengthy adjustment to our new situation, autism does not lend itself to big life changes
• deciding to try to get back to work as a scientific researcher after a decade out of the field (very thankful to the PI who saw my potential and was willing to let me back in the door
• dealing with my spouses relapse again into alcoholism and all of the chaos and challenges that come with that
• Moving on to a FARM finally, having 2 acres with outbuilding in an agricultural setting, though renting, it is still one of my major goals met
• Becoming overwhelmed by the needs of high needs children, now a high needs spouse, and a high level job with a long commute...
• My youngest needing another surgery with another round of a few wheelchair bound
• The decision to reduce my hours at work to better meet the needs of my kids and reduce my own out of control stress issues which raised my blood sugar and blood pressure to dangerous levels again
• The falling through of the reduction of hours due to trusting verbal agreements about the reduction in hours and not waiting for it in writing before putting my resignation from the full time position in writing, then having the boss change her mind about doing the reduced hours position.
• The sweeping changes and guideline, school cancellations, and social distancing recommendations that made it good that I am home at a time like this

Now, at this moment in history, many human beings are helping other by voluntarily doing nothing--by staying home, by distancing themselves socially, by doing self-isolation--protecting the most vulnerable in our society by limiting contact to prevent and slow down the spread of COVID-19.  While it looks like over 80% of those who contract it recover, a good portion without major complications, the elderly, those with respiratory challenges, heart challenges, and other major medical issues (like diabetes, hypertension, decreased immune response, etc...) are at much higher risk of serious complications which include pneumonia, difficulty breathing, heart failure, and even death. 

While this pandemic will not last forever, and in fact it seems like with proper social distancing could be curtailed within 4-6 months.  I base this on the time from the first diagnosed victim in Late December 2019 to today (March 22, 2020) in Wuhan China (no new cases reported for 4 days), it is hopeful that 3-4 months from initial case to the end of each country's disease load will be in the final stages of recovery.   Hopefully by December of 2020, the world will have recovered from this pandemic, and the grief of the loss of thousands will be beginning to heal.  My hope is that people will also look at their neighbors and strangers in a more positive light, remembering that when it comes down to our communities, most of us have been willing to be uncomfortably sequestered so that we all have a better chance at survival.