regarding silence and alone.

The fire is crackling away in the wood stove, and the dogs are snoring ... so I suppose it's not all that quiet in here after all. But there's something about silence.

Sitting still, quietly, listening, alone. I seem to be doing this a lot lately. And you know, it's not so lonely in the end. It's hard to move to a new place where you don't know anyone, and even when you live with people, it can feel really lonely. All the people you know are far away, and it's hard to call them because the cell phone service out here is abysmal. And yet, if I sit still and listen to my breath, and focus on the fact that alone isn't a bad thing, then I don't feel quite so lonely.

"But lonely is a freedom that breathes easy and weightless, and lonely is healing if you make it." [Tanya Davis.]

I've been living in Maine for about six months now. Time goes by unbelievably fast. It's hard to believe that it was six months ago that I moved up here with the intention of working on a schooner until October. I still love boats. But I'm glad that I made the decision to leave that particular one. And I count my blessings as often as I remember to do so - which is reasonably often - that I had a place to stay while looking for a new home, and a job. And I count my blessings as often as I can that I found a nice place to live and a job that makes ends meet. Life isn't perfect, but it could be so much worse. I am really quite happy here. And I'm learning how to be alone. And that's important. Alone is important. Together isn't always an option. And sometimes alone is better anyway. Even if alone is with a warm fire and two dozing dogs.

"Cause if you're happy in your head then solitude is blessed and alone is okay." [Tanya Davis.]

In January I plan to move. To be with Scott. And in that case, together will more often be an option. But it is still important to be alone. Because alone is okay, and together is not always what we need. So that being said, I am very excited to be moving to live with Scott. And then in the not-so-distant future we hope to move again.

And that is what I have to look forward to. And that is what I must add to my blessings that will be counted as often as possible.

Cheers.