Reinvented Yet Again --

Almost four years ago, I wondered if anyone was still out there reading my blog, because I hadn't written in so long.  I was heading off to write a different blog on a passion of mine, genealogy (Living in the Past).  But here I am, back again, wondering if anyone else is discovering a new self even later in life than before.

I started this blog close to six years ago, in 2011.  At that point, I was a budding photographer and occasional watercolor painter, an English professor in her early 60's trying to reinvent herself before retiring.  Here I am now in my mid-60's, retired, heading toward reinvention once again.

Life takes many twists and turns and I find myself bidding farewell to California, my home of 40 years, and returning to Minnesota, where I was not born but raised.  I'll be leaving sunny California before Christmas and heading back to the world of ice and snow (at least for the next few months).  My sister and her husband are there, my dear niece and nephew, grand-nephew (my sister's adorable grandson), my best friend from college years, and I'm looking forward to making new friends and rediscovering a place that has always been special to me.

What's most exciting but also a little terrifying to me is that I haven't lived alone since 1975 -- quite a while ago, right? -- but I'm planning to buy a little home for just me and my beloved dog, Hugo.

 This is Hugo.  The best dog ever.

Hugo, the sweet Maltese-mix I rescued three years ago, and I will be piling in my car with everything we can cram into it and taking off in mid-December, just about the time that snow will be falling in the Sierra, the Rockies, and the Great Plains.  If we have a clear window, we'll make a mad dash over the direct route (San Francisco to Minneapolis, through Nevada, Colorado, etc.).  But if the weather gods don't cooperate, we'll take a more leisurely southern route, through Arizona and New Mexico, turning left at Oklahoma and heading north.  No rush -- whichever has the least probability of our winding up stranded in a snowbank somewhere.

I'll stay with my sister until I can find a townhouse to buy, maybe in the winter, maybe in the spring.  But I'm excited to share my process as I think through the things that I want, in my house, in my life . . . 

So here I am -- this is me, now.  I feel hopeful and worried, excited and scared, all those things and more.  My mother was known for saying, "Look on the bright side," and I will.  There's plenty of bright side ahead.

Let me know if you're still here, okay?  I'm looking forward to making new friends in the blogosphere, but also to reconnecting with friends of old.