Held

 It's been close to a month now that my one bedroom suite has been home to my son and his family, which has now expanded to four.

My grandson was born before his mid-November due date, and he and his Mom are both healthy and strong.

We recently took possession of our new home in Winlaw.

Both of our houses have sold, and I have until at least Winter Solstice to move out of my old place, which will make packing and cleaning much more leisurely. And we'll all have a place to stay in Nelson until then.

It's felt like we've been living in a combination fish bowl pressure cooker. Think small one bedroom, one bathroom, four adults, a precocious four year old and a newborn. Earlier this year I painted all the rooms in the house after thirteen years of not having either time or money. And I'm a neat freak. 

Despite this, we've felt held and supported by our community. I've stayed at Keith's at night in case my son and granddaughter need the extra bed where I had been sleeping. It also gave us some quiet time. And he's been helping me move my things to the new house, and cooking meals while I clean and pack.

We've been treated with kindness and professionalism by my realtor, the woman who sold us the property, trades people, the credit union and our lawyer's office. I've also had the support of the City of Nelson's EcoSave program co-ordinator who has been generous with her expertise and time in helping me navigate the programs in place that will help us to green and upgrade the house we bought. I'll blog about these in more detail later.

As a family we want to garden and to grow berries and fruit trees, and make our house beautiful and energy efficient. And it couldn't be a better time to green our home. There is so much support right now for this from the City, and the provincial and federal governments.

Spending time in our home in Winlaw is like entering a different, much slower time zone. Trees, wild turkeys, kids and pets ground me and set the pace.

The neighbours we've met are lovely people. They let us know where to get firewood, and how the water systems work, among other things.

When I go into town to clean and pack my old house, I can tune in to the weekly satsang at the Ashram where I used to work. Like many others, I had to leave my job due to the pandemic. It's so nice to see old friends and sing along.

Even though I'm slogging through a big move, I'm grateful for how held I feel.