A Change in Perspective

It occurred to me the other night when I was awakened by a loud banging and found five officers of the law on my front doorstep. My life has changed. It's not just that a bunch of cops will show up in the middle of the night doing an investigation on a call. (It's likely that that would never happen at my other house, usually no one can even find it.) My teenage daughter pointed out that she never imagined that she'd ever see me talking on the phone while making dinner. (There's no phone service at our other house so it's impossible! She has seen me tweet while cooking though. Yay for satellite internet!) We have people stopping by all the time too. Old friends, new friends. It's fun to have people actually come over, although I do tend to feel like I have to get dressed every morning when I get up now.

I have really been enjoying being able to call my family and friends whenever I feel like it. And they can actually call me! I have learned that being nice to telemarketers just gets you more telemarketing. You know what I really love? Having a washer and dryer. This is a big deal for someone who has been going to the laundromat for 16 years. (We also had to snowmobile our in and out in winter. Or hand wash. I don't miss that.) And there's the sauna, and the private office. They aren't too bad either.

So it may sound strange that I sort of miss it. The quiet. The solitude. I mean, it's probably as close as you can get to the best of both worlds here. There's space, and peace, and beauty and modern conveniences, and civilization. I do still live in rural America, in a ghost town even! A guy from the big city stopped by the other day. He definitely thought that this was the boonies, until I told him about where I used to live. He looked shocked. Hee hee.

How is this affecting my writing? I think it's good. I certainly have gotten a fresh perspective on a lot of things. People. Interactions. Sharing. Privacy. Patience. Forgiveness. Letting things go. Being cautious. Setting boundaries. These may sound like negative things but they're not. Taking over an inn comes with a lot of responsibility. It's basically a big house that many people are attached to. And for good reason, it's a fabulous place to be. I'm definitely feeling a little more attached to it than I had wanted to be. And soon we'll be opening our house to the public. The dream of the cafe and gallery is quickly becoming a reality. I am going to be meeting all sorts of people and doing all sorts of new things so I'm certain I'll have lots to write about. Hopefully I'll figure out how to be better at time management so I can get it all done.

Sometimes a change in perspective is good for writing. I know, I am doing an extreme change here, but finding little ways to find the new in life can be good for the notebook. Here's to looking at things with a fresh eye.