Serenity NOW

If you’ve been following my blog or Facebook posts, you know that I’ve been moving around a lot … all year up until the MLB playoffs. I arrived back in NJ for the last Yankee Home Stand of the regular season – that’s a tradition my mother and I have – the last home game of the regular season is usually fan appreciation day, so we make sure to go to that game.

Just a few days after the playoffs were done in The Bronx I was back in the car headed south… destination Tennessee! Back to Chattanooga where I am lucky enough to have really great friends who offer me a place to stay while they’re away. I arrived at my friend’s cabin in Signal Mountain, TN the last weekend in October … after one trip down the W Road for grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s I didn’t leave that cabin for days! (Seriously, there are a bunch of switch backs on the road that, if you look at it on a map, the road down the mountain looks like a W.) It was quiet. Peaceful. Well, quiet all except for the rooster crowing. Did you know roosters don’t just crow in the morning but all day long. Yup, I learned that after a couple days there. It felt like I was on a retreat. After all that ‘going going going’ I needed to just stop and relax. I mean, yes, I was still working every day, but that was all I did. Every night after work I sat in a comfy chair, ask Alexa to play me some classical music, and cracked open a book. I did that every night for about two weeks. Then I realized, this is the longest I’ve stayed in one place since I moved out of my apartment in January. It was nice to not have to pack and unpack. While I was there I learned how to build a fire … not just flip a switch and there’s the fire- but a real fire. This may not sound like a big deal to many, but for me, it was a new learning experience. It took me a while to get the hang of it but building a fire and staring at it became a peaceful nightly ritual.

I was completely on my own there for three weeks. The most I spoke to another live person in that time was when I went to the dentist for a checkup. Somehow the dentist I found in Hixson, TN was a Yankee fan who grew up in The Bronx. What are the chances?!?! We had a good long conversation and I’m sure the patients he had to see after me were not happy with the wait. (In case you were wondering, no cavities.)

Back in March I wrote in this blog that I knew I’d return to Chattanooga and that realized while there I would meet new friends who would touch my heart and become dear friends. Chattanooga was not originally on my list. It was a fill in because the weekend Jeannine and I were meeting in Memphis moved out by a week. Little did I know that detour would have much more meaning than I could have ever imagined. I’ve long known that things happen for a reason, but now I know why I was meant to go to Chattanooga. One of those people who is now a dear friend faced a scary health crisis and because of the flexibility of work from home, I was able to be there with him. After three weeks in Signal Mountain I went up to Nashville for his last few weeks of treatment and was happy to be there to hear him ring the bell when treatment was done. His health is his business and it’s not my place to write about the details. But I am happy to say he has fought like hell this year and I am inspired by his strength. God bless you my friend, keep fighting.