February 7, In Retrospect

February 7, 2007, found us deep into the renovation of our condo in Benicia, picking out cabinets and fittings. The floors had been torn out and had begun being replaced, the place was in chaos, yet we were honestly thinking that we’d be there forever … or, at least another few years, to enjoy living through all of the dust! D. was working as a technical instructor, teaching people various programming languages. T. was busily writing, trapped in a single room away from the builders. That month also saw us finishing up some interesting knitting projects, such as this yellow hat … which was made for an adult who begged and pleaded with D. to make her one. It’s a baby hat, but she just had to have one for herself.

Two years later (2009) found us living in Glasgow, Scotland, making Tacos. Between the two points, we’d finished the remodel, rented out the condo, sold everything else we owned, and moved to Glasgow. D. had finished another Master’s degree and had embarked on a PhD. A La Carte had been published, and Mare’s War was four months from being released. We were living in a converted church, a block from the largest reference library in Europe, with no idea where we’d be in two years.

Flash forward another two years to today, and the end of the PhD is in sight, we’re contemplating selling everything yet again, and moving … again. And contemplating buying stock in a box company…!

A scientific fact – recently humorously discussed on NPR – is that human beings can’t go from Point A to Point B in a straight line. Unlike birds, with their magnetic senses, blindfolded, a human being makes a staggering line of loops and circles. That has some parallel to how we live our lives. In many ways, not being able to see what’s coming next feels like being blindfolded, but the good news is that even as we’re making crooked loops, we’re circling our goal… and eventually, we end up safely where we started from. We don’t believe we’ll do that geographically, as there will be transportation involved with people who actually can see where they’re going, but we do live in faith that metaphorically, at least, this will work to our advantage. A person walking blindfolded eventually circles and ends up back where they started from, and so we, too, will find our way “home,” where ever that will mean next.

-D & T