Change. It’s What Life is All About

Our lives are made up of transitions and eras. The other day as I contemplated my new life here at my house without my housemate family of seven years, Mary and I discussed an idea of taking down a wall and opening up this 1920s house into a more modern open room arrangement. She was surprised I was enthusiastic about the idea. “I thought you hated that!” she said. But I explained that above all else, I am never reluctant to accept and create change.

I have had many different careers in my 53 years, each with arcs that parallel my relationships. I was once a newspaper paste-up artist, then a reporter, then a salesman, now a publisher. I know many people like me, who used to do this, or once did that, and now spend their time much differently. During a walk with my cousin we talked about a fellow who often talks with pride about how he “used to work there, and there, and there.” What happened? How come now he works in a low paying factory job, with only memories of great, higher paying jobs to brag about?

The arc rolls on….once my old friend and webmaster Joe Obeng used to live in this house, along with my son Sam. Now Joe is recovering in a hospital room and with a trach in his throat, can intently listen but can’t utter a word. He mouths the words as if I could understand, I hand him a clipboard and pen but he still tries to talk. Seven years ago, they moved out and the kids and family moved in. Seven years ago Joe was telling me over and over again how we had to modernize our website. While he was in the hospital this week, this work began, and I was excited to tell him, amazed that we actually did it.

Now in 2012, a new house has been purchased seven miles away in East Deerfield. It’s exciting for my daughter and son in law to have a place of their own. So gramps will wake up in this big house alone. That’s not so bad, really. Change. It’s what life is all about.