The past year and even further back, I’ve been more out of touch with my friends and writing sisters than ever before. Today I attempt to catch up with you and to do much, much better, communication-wise, in the coming year.
The warm sunny morning on October 20, 2020 about 10:30am brought my life to a complete standstill. I rounded a blind curve on my narrow country road and found a huge and heavy Ford F550 barreling toward me in the center of the road. An hour later I was admitted to UVA’s trauma unit. A day later UVA released me with a brain concussion and orders to rest my brain.
How do you do that, I wondered? Rest your brain, that is. Turns out you don’t use your computer, tv, cell phone, email, or any other electronic devices for about a week. Also–advice from me–you keep worries and concerns out of your mind by giving gratitude to the Universe. After all, you are alive and able to figure out how to start the next chapter of your life. Don’t wait until you have a concussion: brain rest is amazing and I hope you’ll try it soon.
Some of you know that last year I purchased a 3-acre parcel adjoining my daughter’s property. Then I sold my home in April of this year. 2021 was a great year for selling real estate here in Virginia, yet it also lumbered into immense building challenges. Projection for completion of my 735 square foot cabin was originally for September, 2021. Economic delays brought us to, now hopefully, completion in early January. The very latest, I hope, will be by my 80th birthday in early February.
I’m not recommending you have a big, bad truck hit you head-on. Or build a house in your late 70s. Or
even publish a memoir in your mid-70s, for that matter. Yet, each of these major events has brought profound blessings I could never have imagined. Truly, there are gifts in all that comes into our lives.
The process of building my small home has been a continual beckoning light in the midst of COVID. I’ve named her “Creatrix Cottage” (below) and will soon open my long and quiet Winter Solstice days there. I’ve already implemented changes in my new life chapter and will continue the process in my office, aka my Creatrix Room. I’m considering another book; please know you are hearing that only as a whisper right now. And considering other new projects.
As I close, my hope is that this past year has held both small and large blessings for you each. For me, I have found that I have too often taken those everyday gifts for granted.
Shalom, dear friends. And my biggest, best wishes for a healthy, rewarding year ahead,
Mary Jo, in Batesville, Virginia 12.24.2021, looking forward to entering my life’s next chapter.
Mary Jo,
I had no idea you had the accident but I’m happy to hear you are on the mend. Life sure throws a lot of curveballs. Creatrix Cottage looks idyllically cozy. May it bring peace and comfort in your new decade. Merry Christmas
Margie
So happy to find you here, Margie. You are one of the friends I’ve felt so out of touch with. I loved your posted poem a few months back and do plan to return to it and spend more time with it, so I can share my thoughts and feelings with you. So much there that I can relate to, as you might imagine. I think of you often, not that you’d know.
Thank you for visiting, especially at these end of the year holidays, which is one of my favorite times of the year–you know, considering the year past and envisioning the year to come.
Sending love to you and your beautiful family,
As always,
Mary Jo
Hi — you are a new friend in the WIP group that I became a part of this past year. I love that your cottage is named Creatrix — I am so familiar with her. My August release of “Creatrix Rising, Unlocking the Power of Midlife Women,” was a highlight in 2021. The picture of your cabin conjures images that are welcoming, cozy and creative. May that be so. I hope that you write that next book. Sending love and goodwill, Mary Jo.
Hi Stephanie,
Lovely to find your words here. I have gotten to know you (quietly) through the WIP group this past year and have been inspired by many aspects of your work, especially your writing and varied, quality marketing techniques. From you, I became fascinated with the history of the word “Creatrix,” when you began to talk about your book. Not long ago, I began thinking about what to name my cottage, for she certainly has an important role in my next chapter. Creatrix Cottage came to mind quickly in a perfect “aha” moment. And so I thank you for reviving that unique and beautiful word.
I have your book now, a Christmas gift from me to me, and look forward to reading it. And giving it a special place in my small space when the time comes.
Wishing you a holiday season of beautiful moments and looking forward to more conversations in the coming year, as I reintegrate with our incredible group, those wise and wonderful WIPers.
Love, peace, and joy,
Mary Jo
Creatrix Cottage is the perfect name for your new home.
I agree and love the name so much! And I have you to thank. In the unfolding of the universe, it must have been inevitable that we would cross paths, Stephanie! With great gratitude, Mary Jo
Merry Christmas! Thank you for sharing and inspiring. Blessings for you in the New Year and in your new and exciting adventures.
Thank you, Melonie, for visiting here and for your good wishes. I wish you all the sweet moments of this season. Also, so many blessings as I think of your deep devotion to our animal friends.
Peace and joy,
Mary Jo
So glad to call you friend while admitting I wasn’t up on where you are in your life. I was not in the know and am amazed at what you’ve been through and how you’ve turned it into yet more wisdom. Sending you peace and joy in your creatrix cottage. Much love, Mary Jo.
Merry Christmas Mary jo to you and your family. Wow, I am so sorry to hear about your accident and happy to hear about your recovery. It is amazing how serious accidents and life events give us new perspective. Thank you for sharing your stories, it encourages me to pause and find gratitude in my many blessings. George and I are heading down to visit with mom, dad, Jackie, Dean and families. Merry Christmas and blessings to all. Please send my best to Chip. Lorraine.fuller@outlook.com
So good to hear from you here, Lorraine and much gratitude for your beautiful words. I hope your visit with your family was lovely. I’m so thankful each of your parents have worked through amazing challenges and are with us for this season. so much love to your and your entire family as you prepare to open the coming year.
Jeanne, so sorry I didn’t keep you up to date. I tend to go quiet when things are in crisis, which is the opposite of what one “should” do… But here we are to today. I hope you know how much I have celebrated your powerful memoir, your incredible hard work to bring it to it’s best. And then to have SWP in the background all the way. It is such a win, Jeanne. I loved your interview at Cindy’s bookstore. May the holidays bring you peace, and rest, and gratitude, even for the tough stuff. Love you, Mary Jo
Mary Jo……so sorry to hear of your accident…..to only have a concussion is a miracle and blessing in disguise….you were forced to take care of your brain by dwelling on gratitude. I love your little cottage…so glad you could hook onto your daughters property. I wish you a Happy New Year and good health, peaceful moments and a speedy end to all your building challenges and finding yourself happy at home doing the things you love.
Dearest Ruth, thank you for your perfect, beautiful words that melt my heart with peace. I wish you all the same as you journey forward with your husband and family. “Happy at home doing the things you love,” is true for you, too, I hope. And your continuing gratitude for your family. And, good health.
Still hoping we can meet one day, Love, Mary Jo
Dear Mary Jo,
So happy to hear your good news, my dear. Your new home looks so darling and cozy. I hold you close to my heart and wish you all good things for the New Year.
Oh, my blogger role model friend and favorite teacher, thank you! I feel you’re never far away, Len, and am smiling with joy as I read your words.
Sometimes a person gets aligned with the world, given some time to write and figure some things out, and that’s where I feel this season. Enjoying your delightful holiday blogs, and sending you a wish for the ongoing family blessings you write about so beautifully each day. Love, Mary Jo
Mary Jo, so good to hear from you. Your new home looks absolutely perfect!
Thanks so much for your Christmas evening visit, Linda! One of the first things I’m going to do is re-read your second memoir, The Presence of Absence, as soon as I unpack my books. I know I will find markers in there as I open this next journey.
Sending soft, sweet holiday wishes to you, Gerry, and your beloved family,
Mary Jo
Thank you for writing such a moving essay. So many diamonds from coals of tragedy! I wish you enduring peace in your long-longed for new cabin. I will always treasure our friendship and vow to stay more in touch. 💌
Oh, Edna, you are such a beautiful writer. “Diamonds from coals” is a gorgeous analogy and I will not forget it. The image is stunning to me.
So glad we are moving into this year ahead with our plan to stay in touch weekly and know that one day I will open my front door and you will be there, so I can see you after all this time and hug you. So much love, my longtime Lexington friend. Til soon, me.
Wow……..Had no idea, and am so sorry this has been such a year’s trial for you – and so happy that you’re counting your blessings! Would love to see shots of your new little cabin – looks a lot like the one I had built early 2000s……….Keep in touch! Blessings!
Hi Jan, Love finding you here. I’ve had conversation with Dianne Rabeler, who said the house looked “Bovina-ish” and after some study, I had to agree. It also resembles the house I bought in Raphine and lived in until I retired. My Craigs Store was an incredibly built modular and now I’m back to this style again. I love my front deck!! Please come by the next time you’re near the Shanendoah Valley. So much love to you and your awesome family! Heart.
Mary Jo! What a year you have had. I am so glad that the unavoidable collision with that truck wasn’t any worse, although I am sure it was bad enough. And what a blessing that you could sell your house and oversee the design and building of your Creatrix Cottage in your own plot of woods near your daughter! What a charming space it looks to be. May completion come smoothly, and may this new phase of your life be all you hope for and more. Hugs and blessings, Susan T
Suffice it to say an inch either way where my head impacted would have meant we wouldn’t be talking. So good to find you here so I can tell you how much I’ve celebrated you in my heart during this year: for publication of your and Richard’s last years together, which I’ve looked forward to for many years as you re-worked it until Bless the Birds was the most beautiful book it could be. I’ve learned a lot about your process. Never give up! I celebrate your house renovations and look forward to your next book about Tool Lady. I celebrate your new relationship with “the guy” and how you are growing into your next chapter. And, most of all, I celebrate you! Shalom, dear Susan!
What a blessed inch that was, Mary Jo! I am so glad you are here with us, talking, looking forward to moving into Creatrix Cottage, and returning to writing. And thank you for your support and love. Same back to you with many blessings!
What an inviting space to rest your brain when it needs resting. The cottage in the woods by your daughter should be just the ticket for both creating in your next chapter and relaxing and reflection on life. We should all have such a plan in place-but without the head-On with a monster truck
Enjoy this last week of a difficult year for many!
Such beautiful words, dearest Nancilynn. Like poetry through my eyes into my heart. May we keep in touch as we each travel through the year ahead. Love, Mary Jo
Your cottage looks great. Even better, you are looking forward to your next chapter. I feel a rebound emerging.
Please take care of yourself.
Lynn
http://www.writeradvice.com
Thanks so much, Lynn,
I plan to return to the monthly prompts you’ve been giving for quite some time now. After attending a few, I thought — wrongfully, as I later learned — that because I’ve not been an e-circle member for quite some time, I wasn’t really eligible. If they’re continuing, I hope to see you there. I love how you give them from wherever you and Richard are traveling.
I wish you both good health throughout this new wave of COVID and in all other ways.
So good to talk with you!
Shalom, Mary Jo
Mary Jo,
Now I know why you so mysteriously disappeared after a valued reconnection. I’m so sorry to hear about your accident and so amazed at your marvelous recovery. Resting your brain seems to have helped beautiful words flow as your many responses here show. A good omen for your next book … even though it is only a whisper at the moment. I LOVE your Creatrix Cabin. And its being next to your daughter is a perfect location for the next chapter in your life. I hope the finishing and moving go smoothly and you begin 2022 refreshed and ready to bring your voice to the world once more.
Many blessings my friend,
Linda
Linda, my dear writing sister,
It is sooo good to hear from you. Thanks a bunch for taking the time to get in touch. Off and on, I’ve gotten lost in my life in the past year, but watching the house rise up now is lifting me into planning for how this new chapter will begin and possible new directions to go. I’m hoping you and your daughter have been well, been well on the outside of our pandemic, and that life for you both has been fairly smooth and graced with the silent, small miracles that life often brings. I hope our paths will cross again during the year ahead. Abundant blessings to you, Mary Jo
I am so glad you are writing again and look forward to your next book. Your cottage is lovely! Share some inside pics when you are settled, especially your writing spot. Love you my friend, happy 2022!
I’m so happy to find you here, Jude. It’s been such a long time since we’ve attended an SCN conference together and so much has happened for you and for all of us. I think of you often. I absolutely loved your book title, “Post-Divorce Bliss: Ending Us and Finding Me” and the process you wrote so well.
May our new year ahead bring you good health and so many ways to lift your voice into the world. Hoping our paths will cross now and again. xo
Jude, so many thanks! I’ll be talking more. Love you!
Mary Jo,
Your new home looks like such a cozy corner for a new adventure. I’m sure you’ll love this cabin in the woods as much as you loved the one earlier in your life. May it be just the respite you need to start your next “chapter”!
All the best, dear friend,
Bobbie
Your words mean so much to me, Bobbie! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Love,
Mary Jo