Marielle & Mee
I’m sitting on my couch staring through the French doors into a yard that has been filling out with big green leaves. After a long winter the arrival of spring = the arrival of new life.
I grew up in the cold northern Ohio Tundra and then moved west and south, choosing to live in warm climates. I loved the year round sunshine and shivered at the thought of ever returning to a seasonal climate. However now that I’ve just finished my 3rd winter here in Nashville I’ve caught a groove for the seasons. This winter was said to be one of the worst on records here, yet the girls and I moved through it with a fantastic rhythm. I wrote a ton, made yummy soups, and embraced snow days with my girls – as now I see the value of their littleness – knowing it won’t last too much longer. Living in a world with different seasons is a fantastic way to feel a makeover every 4 to 6 months.
I think what has really helped is having neighbors that we adore. You see side-by-side we live our family of four and their family of 5; Not only do their 3 little girls and our 2 little girls make 5 little people friends but us adults totally groove too. We all move back and forth between our houses all day long – built in playdates the old school way – actual neighbors. Both of our houses are full of life, come 3 pm – preschool ends and things really heat up.
If you’ve been following my blog for the past few years you’ll know that things have been incredibly lonely for our family the first year we were in Nashville. We lived in the house with “whispering walls”, isolated not meeting one neighbor and Bella’s first summer here was awful – as she spent long hot days trapped inside with me, at the time an incredibly sick woman, unable to stand at times. Then our second season we met the LeCerf family, Isabella and Lola connected to their girls and I connected to Marielle – I jumped in driving the kids in a car pool and made playdates happen with our most compatible family you see they had lived all over like us from Paris to Mexico City. Marielle and I squeezed in tiny chats that dove deep into whom we are and our aspirations.
Last June they left Nashville after a 4-year run here, returning to Mexico City. Isabella and I were crushed.
The good news is that we’d moved out of the creepy house and into a wonderful new home in one of the most walk able neighborhoods in the city. We didn’t have friends but we were part of Nashville and inhaled it; participating in more and more events, enrolling Isabella in a new school located in the neighborhood where she joined a summer camp and Lola attended a new pre-school also way more compatible with our family.
What’s happened in the past year is amazing – I have turned 360 degrees health wise, I’ve gotten comfortable in fact more comfy living in Nashville then any other city ever – I have also felt safer emotionally than I have ever felt in my entire life! This is huge y’all!!!!!
My writing has developed, fantastic opportunities have arrived as a result spiritually I continue to grow…so, with that said things may change.
Yep, just as I fixed my office here in the house – the last room that needed tweaking, an opportunity for Lee and I has come knocking, returning us to the west coast.
I am torn.
This past weekend, my neighbor was away for a one night women’s retreat, her husband was swinging it with their 3 kids all under the age of 5 years plus 1 – her friends daughter age 6. I immediately opened the French doors leading to their back yard and began cooking. There I was in my kitchen 6-month old baby on my hip and 5 little girls at the table. My girls were glowing with excitement – you see they love feeling connected and so do I. Saturday morning I opened the doors and the little girl parade began; we had a fantastic lunch after Lee and Ted (our neighbor) walked to the park with all 6 girls. At one point the little just turned 3 yr old had a melt down and had to go home for a break, when she came back she looked at me and said “Meme I missed you all day, I sorry.” I hugged her and in doing so I saw again what Bill Attride the astrologer told me upon my arrival to Nashville, it is my place of destiny and I will only have poignant relationships – deeply felt – who knew these relationships were going to be with little kids?
Here my life is about my girls, my husband, my writing, Mary Alice, Jane Ellen, our ranch, my neighbors and of course The Noble Food Makeover. I’m not a socialite, I don’t belong to a club, and I barely go out at night, as I like to drift of to sleep with my little people.
What I know now is that life changes quickly, scenarios shift, circumstances evolve and “those people” grow up. When we lived in Sayulita, Mexico there was a time when nothing else existed, we were complete. This is the moment that I heard time call our name – the next was awaiting in the wing. I moved here into the next kicking and screaming, craving what we’d left. I knew not to rush, life in the jungle wasn’t going to last forever. Here as I’ve found my groove and grown into a newer version of Mee I hear the same whisper – this too shall shift.
Yesterday the shift came and now I’ve got to revel in the moment, because it seems that life is call Mee to step up and expand possibly somewhere else or will that expansion take place here in Nashville?
Of course just when I think I KNOW IT ALL, life shows me that I don’t; our 38th houseguest (since September) Lama Tenzin (a Tibetan Lama) arrived Sunday morning and with him he carried a TORNADO of energy and information for MEE to see….
To Be Continued….’Cause man oh man has this week heated up.
