Day 28-A picture of you from last year and now-how have you changed?

I have changed a lot over the last two years, 2009-2011.

St. Patrick's Day 2010

Last year I was a house wife with a beautiful home and an adorable dog who was my constant companion.  I could count on her to keep me company, do what I wanted to do, stay sober and love me unconditionally. 

Now I am single, living in a small apartment and surrounded by friends. At times I really miss my dog, but I know I can see her whenever I want and for now it's better that way. I miss my guest room and my dining room table. I miss my dog door, garage, and yard. I also miss the leisure life of being a house wife. I miss going to the gym in the morning and being able to take my time and not have to rush off to work. I miss having time to quilt and blog in the mornings before work. I miss having the flexible schedule so I could do my visiting teaching before work. I miss not going to work till noon. I miss working in the studio in Mid-town and being able to walk to all those great places to eat. I loved being a house wife. I was good at it.  And some day I look forward to being a house wife again. 

There are many seasons to life. There is the planting, watering, fertilizing and harvesting. I really feel like at times I have paid my dues in triplicate. I have sown many good seeds over the years, I have watered my crops, I have fertilized, and now it is finally my time to harvest. I think back to the story of the Chinese Bamboo: There is this particular breed of Chinese Bamboo plant that you need to water and fertilizing it for 4 years. During that time they won’t see any growth above the soil. For those 4 years the plant is building a sophisticated root system below ground. Then in the 5^th year the Chinese Bamboo plant may grow up to 80 feet. (If this is an analogy to my life. Then those 4 years of watering and fertilizing would interpret to years of abuse, both physical and mental and over a decade battling mental illness. It took me many years to walk away from the abuse, but I finally have. I am happy to say that I finally got the strength to live on my own. As for the battle with mental illness, well that will always be a battle for me. At times it will a full out war with machine guns, bombs, and air raids and other times it will be simple hand to hand combat and other times it may be just drills in preparation for the next big battle. Today I am doing drilling for the next, I can't say what tomorrow will bring.)

As for this being the season of Harvest for me. I have to say I have been so blessed. I have a wonderful little apartment that I can call home. I have a job that provides me with enough income to live comfortably on my own.  My boss lets me use his netflix account at work so I can watch movies while I work. I love not having a set time when I have to get to work. I love having my stair stepper in my living room and love watching tv as I stair step. I love all the friends I have made since I became single. I love all the activities I have available to me now that I am single.  I love my new ward. I love the flexibility of my job, that I am going to be able to do all the traveling that I have been dreaming of. I love that I don't have to work my vacation time around other people's schedule. I love being independent and not having to account to anyone as how I spend my money. I love that my parents taught me to be frugal so I am able to live on my own. I love it that I am an only child and my parents let me swap cars when ever I want. I love that my parents got a new amazing sewing machine last year and I'm using it. I love that I took quilting classes last year and have the know how to quit. 

I am so blessed.