The smooth jazz Christmas music is on. My new housemate has moved in and is finding space for her things. The first huge blizzard of the season has been blowing all day. Because I'm fighting some sort of flu bug and it returned with a vengeance to my head in terms of sniffles and sneezes, I decided not to venture to work today. Mid-afternoon I felt better so I took apart my ten year old computer to retrieve the hard drive. This is a project that has been waiting for three years. Then my roomie and I made supper together: gluten-free pancakes with real maple syrup and raspberry topping, and a side of bacon for me because my vegan roomie doesn't judge anyone else's food intake. And yes, I know that's having breakfast for supper but it felt like that kind of day.
However, part of our agreement in her living here is that she will prepare some of the meals and I am more than happy to be introduced to other nutritional options. No one knows better than I that my food choices have been lacking some balance over the last several decades.
The day has been quiet except for the storm raging outside. It seems so natural and right to have someone else in the house. The dog isn't quite sure about it yet and has been behaving out of character, a little stressed at the change of routine. She was disconcerted by the moving of many boxes and furniture that ensued from deciding to swap the upstairs spare room with the downstairs office so the housemate could have her own space with the full bath right beside.
So I found some room in the pantry for her dry goods, some storage space under the bar for her dishes, emptied one shoe storage rack in the front closet, a little space in the garage and storeroom for miscellaneous items and for the rest she's finding a home in the spare room that has now become her room.
After supper I finally sat down in my "new" office, nicely organized, though there are a number of boxes filled with items from the closet that now need to be sorted, purged, given away or properly stored. I sorted my in basket and now have a larger filing pile and a small to-do pile.
All this in an atmosphere of peace, both external and internal. Oh, I know the snow is blowing and the wind howling like a banshee outside and I've had to raise the thermostat to keep the indoor temperature comfortable and my sinuses are really bothering me, but I truly am at peace.
Have you experienced this? When someone can come into your space, your office or your home and just having them around brings with it a sense of either peace or tension or perhaps some other emotion? Sometimes you can't even articulate what that emotion is.
In my case, the way this arrangement developed was so unique that I have no other option to consider but that it was God preparing the way for this to happen, from the first time I met Amy about 18 months ago. Someday I might tell you the story. Suffice it to say, it just feels right for now. It is an open-ended agreement and we're still sorting out the details, but I'm at peace and know that life is all about relationships. This is just one more friend that I'm glad to have!
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