Happy Davidversary!

Feeling pretty stoked this morning. It's the one year anniversary of David's visit. I am kind of hoping we go to the Syracuse Airport for a reenactment, which David only suggested in jest. I would actually like to do it. I'm wearing the same shirt (the "You Drive Me Nuts" peanut shirt) & everything.

I also have two succulent, salient dreams rolling around in my brain. These two are even shortly doable, moreso than learning to build my own house, which logistically requires more financial stability. Which one if not both of these dreams addresses!

And I have reading to thank! Oh, my old friend reading. Between school, where I was required to read crap that was boring and made me sleepy, and potsmoking, which significantly reduced my attention span and brain power, I pretty much stopped reading. As a kid, I read all the time. It was my escape of choice. There was no feeling than a fresh stack of library books. Finally, the feeling is back!

Right now, I'm reading All New Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew. I'm also reading lots of gardening blogs. I've worked on farms the past two summers, and I really loved learning about gardening. The first summer I worked at a greenhouse, and it was only three weeks of day labor, but it was a transformative experience. I felt connected to my ancestors, from my long lost parents on back, each side filled with gardeners and farmers and migrant workers and day laborers. I felt like I was doing something right for me. Like I said, transformative. Then last summer I did an informal "internship" at Bread and Roses Farm. I learned SO MUCH about organic gardening (you better believe I took notes!), and I got to see a woman running her own business. And the business was home-based, and she was caring for and homeschooling her three kids, which was great to watch because having a home-based business and kids whom I homeschool are someday ambitions of mine. It was both educational and empowering, except for the part where my mysterious back pain & fatigue made it impossible to do the amount & kind of work I wanted to do.

This year, I really want to have a garden of my own. The health issues put a crimp in hardcore larger-scale gardening, and in doing exercise after sitting for the half hour drive to the farm. Square Foot Gardeinng supposedly allows you to grow more in less space, which is definitely what I have to work with (if we're going to try to grow at home). I'm thinking about other options, like community gardens or garden swapping with an elderly person who can't work out in the garden anymore in exchange for harvests, or coming up with good, firm boundaries & then asking for some space at nana & papa's, but really, I'd like to be able to be near my garden. I dont' want to be a drive away from it, even if it's a short drive.

So David & I have been reading about "all new" square foot gardening, and watching a library video of the older version, and daydreaming. He finds it hard to think about a garden when it is so wintery out, but I find it to be quite medicinal.

I'm also reading The Anti 9 to 5 Guide, by Michelle Goodman. It is putting me into a daydream frenzy of hope. She gives very, very practical advice, which I love, and has decribed what it's like to freelance, which is I guess the name to what I want to do. Except, I'm not sure what to freelance. But I am sure, almost 100%, that that is the type of work arrangement that I want. I've been browsing freelance websites, and wow, there are a lot of things that one can freelance. And a lot of them excite me! I haven't felt excitement about possible work in a while. Individual projects, maybe I've been excited about, but not particularly hopeful. This seems exciting, and inspiring, and doable. I have a lot more dreamstorming to do, and then action plans to make, but for the first time in a while, I feel like I might be on an actual, possible (as in do-able) road to enjoyable self-employment.

And, maybe today's excitement has come in part from the new supplements I got. See, I went to healer #47 or so yesterday, about my back pain & fatigue. A couple Sundays ago I was talking to a fellow churchgoer who had similar symptoms, and she told me about this guy she'd been seeing who really helped her. She passed along a coupon for a free consultation, so I went. He was weird and off-putting in a socially awkward kind of way, but one that's different from the brand of weird, off-putting social awkwardness than I am used to. I am trying to decide whether I should let that influence me, because on one hand I want to have a good relationship with any healer that I'm working with, but on the other hand, I want his help with my problem, not a date or a BFF. Anyway, a lot of the things sounded like an endocrine problem to him, and he gave me some supplements to try. When my Medicare kicks in, I think I'm going to go to an endocrinologist. But for now, I'll try this $30 bottle of citrusy chewable vitamins. Probably won't hurt (let's hope).

So that's what's up. I was inspired to write a quick entry, and it took longer than I thought! Better get goin' if I want to get to the Syracuse Airport. I'm very glad that this time, David's already with me. And I don't have to leave him there to fly back to Korea. Happy Davidversary!