The Stars Will Be My Feather Bed

I… am… a college graduate! Whoa. The reality that I’m finally done with nursing school hasn’t quite settled in for me yet. All those years working on my degree were so full with having children, being a family, and figuring out how to be mentally healthy and make it all work… I just want to slow down and enjoy life for a while, let change happen slowly and appreciate all that I have. I’m feeling a deep, enduring gratitude for my family and my home that I can come back to live and work here. To have a place to live where we can really settle down, to have trees to climb and soil to tend, to already have a full-time job, to be in this beautiful place… I am truly grateful. There are still ripe Gravenstein apples in my parent’s orchard and the last few fall raspberries in my mom’s garden. The smell of the windfallen apples rotting in the wet grass and woodsmoke in the air, the sound of the neighbors roosters and the wind through the fir trees, it seems like everything around me is calling out to me and welcoming me home. I’m filled with relief and joy to know that I don’t have to pack up and go back to the city like I usually do. I can barely believe it… I’m here to stay.