I’ve been taking a break from regular posting for a number of reasons. I’m managing two jobs again – this time with less stress. I’m driving an hour and a half every day to and from one of those jobs. I’m living in the city, there are more things to do and see – I have new friends.

It’s really amazing the changes that living in the city again has wrought in my life. A good friend of mine told me when I got my first apartment that I was more grounded and together than I ever had been. When he told me that I realized it was true on a number of levels. I had never had my own space before – the ability to truly wind down was a huge part of that, I also could do some of the things I really wanted to do and arrange my space appropriately. I hade a home, with no pressure from anyone else no matter what, and I could go there and deal with whatever storm broke in whatever way I needed to.

Living in a true city again is the next level of that. Here I have the culture, the people, the noise and lights. I can be in a group or all alone and still pull something from the world. Togetherness is a lot easier here, aloneness too, and cities offer a level of anonymity that I could never have had living in my last home.

Moving here has helped me to regain the support network that is just not possible in a small town with no young people. Spreading your burden thin makes for a much better load to bear, and that is what I have found here.

I also am in a place where I can more easily work on things that matter – art, and the environment, and all the other things. I am taking up my activist banner again, I am making a difference, and I hope that people notice me and the changes in my life.

This post is my way of giving thanks. Thanks to everyone that helped make this happen for me. Thanks to friends both new and old. Thanks to gifts and loving, friends and family, those near and dear, and those who made the ride more enjoyable.

Thanks to the generosity of those people who I now know, who have made my new life possible. Thanks to the warm welcome everyone in this city has offered me. Thanks to everyone who has tried to make a difference. Thanks to the beating heart at the core of this city, the people the places, the sights and sounds that make this place truly beautiful.

Thanks to the cat-sitters, the musicians, the crafters and artists. Thanks to the handymen and women, the shopkeepers and shoppers. Thanks to my beloved, my neighbors, the organizations to which I belong and am involved.

Thank you all.

Because of you and everything that everyone of you do, I am blessed with a place to live that is truly one of the best places on earth. It is you, each and every one that make this a beautiful city. Sometimes that beauty is so sharp it takes my breath away, and for all of this, I am thankful.