Blooming Where You Are Planted

A friend on another of my blogs commented, “Many of us lack the where-with-all to choose another country as if we were ordering off an exotic menu, so bloom where you're planted!” It is certainly true that not everyone can “choose another country” at will. We have been through a period of over ten years when the care needs of Elyn’s father kept us from being able to easily choose to live abroad. His death two years ago and an inheritance that resulted has finally allowed us to consider finishing a time of living abroad that we started in 1997. That 1997 stay in Spain and France was interrupted when both our mother’s had fatal strokes ten days apart and Elyn’s father was in delicate condition for the next nine years. During that period we lived in the US and tried our best to “bloom where we were planted.” That we can contemplate finishing what we started in 1997 is a blessing that results from the situation above and our continuing good health.

A point I want to make here is that I nearly missed taking advantage of this opportunity. When we moved to Santa Fe two years ago I said that I only had “one move left in me.” I was truly feeling old and wanted a place where I could comfortably live out the rest of my life before going into a retirement home. I could have said that I was blooming where I was planted here in Santa Fe, and this town is certainly an attractive town to bloom in. I’ll probably bloom here again some day.

What has changed? What gave me the impetus to say to Elyn, “OK, let’s do it—let’s uproot and do one more big sojourn in the wider world?” The biggest change was a change of attitude. Sure my health has continued to improve here, but the big change happened in my head. I always tell people that my wanderlust comes from having married Elyn, who is nomadic by nature. That is partly true, but I must acknowledge the strides I’ve made in the past year toward realizing that I’m as young right now as I will ever be in this lifetime.

If I can preach for just a minute, I would ask if you are blooming or if you are stuck. You don’t have to go to Europe to bloom, that’s for sure, but I sincerely hope that you are having some fun wherever you are planted.

I designed a business card today and sent it off to the printer. You can see it here. I had a lot of fun designing it just as I’m having fun writing this little piece.