and it will be better, still
I remember in high school, just before school let out for summer,
everyone would be busy trying to find as many friends as they could to
get their yearbook signed. Our friends would write about fond memories
from the year and often ended their words with some thing catchy. "You
+ Me = BFF Forever" or "2 Cute, 2 Be, 4 Gotten". But, right now, I'm
reminded of how often people wrote "Don't Change". The sentiment was
sweet. I like you just the way you are so, over the summer, while
you're away from most of the people you spend every single day with,
don't change anything about yourself.
often bad people just get worse. But we change. If we just stayed the
same, the world would change around us and we'd be left wishing
everyone had just stayed the same. This weekend was all about change. I became a landlord. My first tenant moves in this afternoon. I've
been considering this idea for a long, long time. Everyone I know that
has never been a landlord or has only dabbled in it has cautioned me
to not even consider it. Others that are well into it actually find it
to be fairly lucrative. I'm not in it for the money -- I'm just doing
it to keep from going under. But it's both the right thing to do and
very scary at all the same time. I ended a friendship that was causing me a great deal of heartache. I
was reluctant to take any steps toward doing so. I'd been considering
it for so very long. But, I'm a "benefit of the doubt" kind of guy.
And I've always refused to take action until action was taken against
me. But when I stepped back and looked at how much of me this
relationship was draining, I realized it was time. I moved. I'm 30 minutes closer to almost everything. I have grocery
stores, and restaurants, and shopping close enough now that I can
actually operate without planning out my entire day in advance,
because I don't have to leave home and plan on not coming back until
the day is over. However, my old house was perfect. All the walls were
clean of anything but my own designs and mistakes. The floor worn down
by only my feet, and the feet of those I care about. When things
broke, I fixed it. So everything was always fixed. Now, I'm walking
into a home in need of some repair. Fences are going. Floors are
dirty. Walls are dingy. Landscaping is overgrown. Blinds are broken.
I've got some work to do and I can't even start until I get unpacked.
But, it's a good change, a good move, and great place to call home. I took the first steps (again) to end the job I've had for 13+ years.
I'm sad to lose the familiar faces, and places, and processes, but
this is a step I need to take to make my life better and my daughter's
life better. I had so many conversations that are sparking even more changes, big
and small. And they all have me excited about where I'm at, and
looking straight into the future this path has me set on. All in all, I'm busy, and tired, and sore, and doing wonderfully.
