Reflection

In about two weeks, I’ll have been in Tampa for six months. September 4th. Also Sam’s and my one-year anniversary. Besides trying to get used to the heat (and it’s hot everywhere, so I know I’m not alone), and getting used to not driving (more on that in a second), I have to say that I’m much happier here than I was in Minnesota. I had a conversation on Facebook with my LJ friend Dar and it is her observation that I have better energy now than I did before the move. The personality disorders (I have three) show themselves still with a frequency I wish would lessen. I appreciate Sam and his inate ability to calm me when the internal storms threaten to wash over, and I enjoy the unending number of things to do in the Tampa area.

Sam owns a small sports car. This car also happens to be a stick shift. I am one of the many millions I’m sure who has never had to learn to drive a stick shift. Sam has tried to teach me, but the car is too small for me to manuever. We’re not in the position to get another car or replace the one we have, so Sam does all of the driving. In fact, the only driving I have done in the past months in Florida are during Vas’ visit in April while she attended a feature dance school. She rented an automatic, and it was much simpler for Sam or I to drive, than to direct Vas.

I’m getting to know the city as a passenger, which affords me more time to look around at my surroundings. Sam has lived in Tampa for at least three years, possibly four, and I think I can tell him things about how to get somewhere that he’s never considered. Last week, when I scored tickets to see Pericles, we had a short window of time to drive home, change, eat dinner and get back downtown before the show. (Fabulous musical, by the way.) Having had the opportunity to read signs and observe from the passenger window, I gave Sam the best directions to get back downtown from our apartment in South Tampa. That opportunity came up again when we had to get to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center to try for tickets to Wonderland (which I’m happy to say we got, for opening night).

I can’t say I’ve focused on my art more in the past nearly six months, but I do have my moments. I turned on the tv for noise, watching mostly the weather channels, and made several pieces of jewelry. I do not know if I’ll sell any, but I enjoy making things. I’ve been trying to patiently wait for my muse to show herself again, and that is frustrating. Sam and I have been making efforts to make our apartment more creative-friendly. We have this blog, which we’ve been neglecting.

There are so many things we want to do, and sometimes get overwhelmed by what to do first. Reading this post by Ali Hale started something in my brain today. Clicking through to the examples she mentioned brought me to a blog that referenced (in its own way, and probably without knowing it) the line from the Indigo Girls song Least Complicated: ‘The hardest to learn was the least complicated.’

So, it’s time to start and make the next six months better.

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How have things been for you lately? Stop by the comments and let Sam and I know.