A milestone -- or two

Friday marked the 500th day of my Day Zero (aka 101 things in 1001 days) project and the day before that was my birthday.  Seems like a good time for reflection.

Day Zero is coming along well.  I'm working away at some of the larger projects and have completed many others.  The sole remaining goal under Legal/Financial is to make a will, which I want to accomplish before the end of the year.  The items that have a price tag, particularly travel, are the ones that linger, quite expectedly.  I have discovered that some other things aren't really important, or I've changed my mind entirely.  I'm going to give myself a "do-over" to make a few revisions to the List in the next few days.

It's true that I'm a list-maker and find satisfaction in checking off the individual tasks.  But the larger goal of the List was to help me focus on making a future by figuring out some of the actions I could take that would put me on the path to being a now-single, more-than-middle-aged woman with an almost empty nest.   I wanted to identify activities I enjoy and encourage myself to do them, to think of others that I've wanted to do and push myself to try them, to take concrete action to make my new house into a welcoming place of comfort and peace for my children, my friends, and -- most of all -- me.   Progress is being made on all these mini-goals, I think. 

Adjusting to my life as a single person, living alone, has been something of a challenge.  I don't lack for things to do (quilt, read, watch movies on DVD, etc.) and I generally enjoy my own company.  But it's easy to slip into the habit of withdrawing from people and outside-the-house activities.   Given my newfound free time, it would have been easy to over-commit, but I have been careful not to do so.   However, there are times when my solitude slips into loneliness. 

The addition of Sassy and Smidgen to the household has infused a giant portion of joy into my life, a feeling that has been rare for a couple of years now.    I am enjoying their presence and their affection so much I talk about them, even at the risk of being thought a "crazy cat lady".   And they are one more step in creating a new life, linked to, but separate from the one I had a few short years ago, which I never expected would end as it did.   Another step forward.