Hmmmm…Plans Must Change…
Good grief! How is it possible that we have walked into a new year, and nothing seems new! Most of us were sure that when we greeted the new year most certainly, we would be leaving all that masking, variant, vaccinating, lockdown, Yellow-orange-purple behind us. Ahhhh, but no, it appears we are on the rinse and repeat of 2020 and 2021! Which is not only annoying for all the obvious reasons but because I had big big plans…plans that have already been delayed 2 years! I especially had plans, several years in the making, to do something fun and exceptional for my big birthday (you know…one of those milestone ones :).
Plan A. I was planning Rome! I haven’t seen it in decades and not that I think the Sistine Chapel or Coliseum has changed at all…I would love to see it with my more global vantage point. But no…not happening, with CDC warnings, the after Christmas surge and Rome closing things down or at the least reducing access and negative testing for everything. It wasn’t going to be fun and explorative any longer. It was going to be a drill to find labs and then interpreters for the results…always in Italian and 20 pages long. Not a vacation let alone a celebration.
Plan B. Thinking somewhere domestic…NYC?! Then things started doing the same thing there. Theaters closing. Museums with negative tests. Reduced hours (Testing is fine for coming and going, but eats up way too much of a short holiday to be done in between). Next….
Plan C. Stay in state…San Francisco…Napa/Sonoma…same complications and then the person who had the wonderful idea diverted their plans to Dallas. Next….
Plan D. I had a very sweet friend offer to plan a party. Then I realized with what is now happening in LA County…I could have 2 people or a group outside…but with 5 days straight of rain last week and a January date. We would likely cancel. Next…
Plan E. That’s where I landed…and it was all good. In fact it was way better than good. It was Fantastic! I got busy and set dates with friends for lunches for the week…well actually it has gone from Jan 9-Feb 9!!. I booked a massage and a facial. I decided to block the calendar out anyway and on my staycation pull out the two huge books that have had no attention for months and read. Plus, this was the perfect opportunity to finish organizing the guest closet shelves and the game shelves in the kids room. If an article isn’t being used…it’s gone. I also still have time to select companion prints for the sofa and chairs in my living room. I will feel fabulous that there is space, and the home is complete. It will be the sanctuary I hoped for. What a fun time to catch up with people and have wonderful conversations with people I love and really desire to keep connected to.
So now, I ask you…how can you celebrate the New Year, your birthday, your anniversary, Valentine’s Day (coming soon) The Lunar New Year? Or just the fact that we have made it another circle around the sun!
Add a sparkler to your cake (or a torch!! Like I did) and toast YOU!! Your friends who are so wonderful in supporting you on your journey and the family that is so great to be there in the best of times and most challenging of times.
Thank you to all of you who took the time to love me no matter what, as I celebrated another milestone in life! You are my tribe and I am grateful beyond words! I encourage you all to get out there and in your own individual way LIVE your Dynamic Life!!
For more on how you can start or re-start a life you truly are fulfilled in – please visit: dynamiclife.com or reach out to me: Cynthia@cynthiafreeman.com
