OUR BLOG

We sold our former home last week.  Closed … signed, sealed, and delivered.   And as relieved as we are to no longer have two homes to keep up, I’ve been feeling rather contemplative and sentimental.

Buying that house was a huge beginning for me many years ago when I moved to Asheville to take the position as the Festivals Coordinator for the City.

I was single.  Barely over the grief of my husband’s death.  Buying my first house all on my own.  Taking on a BIG job in a city where I didn’t know a soul.  Moving to the mountains of Western North Carolina … a place I loved and often escaped to when the grief and sadness were too great.

It was in that house that I let go of my former life and started to build a new one.   That house is where I proved to myself that “I could do it.”

Last night, a dear friend I haven’t heard from in a while sent me a text that said, “I was listening to ‘Harry’s song’ tonight and I thought of you.”

Harry Hedges was my first husband … my first love. He died 30 years ago this year. Harry’s song was The Leader of the Band by Dan Fogelberg. It was the CD that was in our CD player when he died, and it described him perfectly … “a quiet man of music.”

I was surprised by how much grief and sadness was aroused when I listened to his song again. And it couldn’t help but reactivate the feelings of loss surrounding the death of my dear friend, Stephen, just one month ago.

We’ve all suffered losses over the last year. Our loss of freedom. Loss of family and friends. Some through death … some through the divisiveness created in our country … some through the inability to connect in person.

There are a lot of great things about running your own business. But the best thing?

You’re your own boss. You can decide when to work and when to take time off.