Reflections - I Chose a New Path

Irene live in Massachusetts on the southeast coast, about 20 miles from Cape Cod. She is a registered nurse and has been in health care for 25 years. As yet single, she devotes her free time to crafts and the fine arts. Computers are starting to become quite a hobby, too! Her other interests include billiards, photography, painting, candle making, needlework and a lot else.

Irene loves to travel, but only to places that are remote and off the regular circuits. She finds discovering an area, without all the touristy stuff, quite an adventure.

Due to circumstances and what I see as an opportunity, I have had to follow a road that has led me back to my parents' house. We live in a 4-apartment building that has been owned by my family, as have other homes here since the turn of the century, when the neighborhood was settled by Canadian immigrants who came to the USA.

At this point, I am staying with my brother in his 4-bedroom apartment on the second floor. But, right after the holidays, my father will be opening up the third floor apartments where there are two1-bedroom apartments and, I am moving, again. It's just another one of those little things that occur on a daily basis. Mind you, I have lived alone for the last 25 years and I have never been married so, while I love my brother he is, personality-wise, the image of my father. What occurred last night is a good example of this. I came home from work and sat with my father for an hour or so, explaining why I wanted to move to the third floor. He agreed, and a date was set for the move. When I came upstairs, my brother was working on his Peace Corps application. He had decided to apply and leave for a couple of years shortly after I moved in with him (I guess it's not working for him either!). Well, he's not a very good writer and the essay was a bit disjointed so, I offered to fix it up some time this week. I told him I had committed to writing an article for SAWF and I wanted to get it done first and send it. Well, then it started. "Forget it!" "I was planning on sending the application by Wednesday!" "If you can't do it now, then I don't need your help." And, on he went. And here you have an example of the frustration of having one's back against a wall. So, I rewrote his essay. From experience I have seen that this is the path of least resistance and it helps me to avoid future arguments.

My parents are in their 80s and they have slowed down quite a bit. My father, who is 87 years old, will be giving up his driver's license next year. As it is now, he rarely drives any more. So, I am glad to be more available to them for errands. When my mother wants to, she joins me. For myself, I have started a candle-making business and my mother has been a great source of support. I have seen her actually defend my business venture and me to my father, who is eternally worried about my finances. This is quite a turnabout in our relationship, as my mother and I were not very close. But now, we spend every weekend, at least six hours a day, together. From her, I have heard stories from the old days and new ones that I had never heard before. She also comes up with good ideas to increase productivity. Although legally blind, she wraps each candle with a cellophane type paper, puts on a ribbon, and then a label. Some of the labels are placed upside down, but, I don't tell her this. I don't want to hurt her feelings. She is so enthusiastic and happy with this task.

Irene's Candle The candles are selling quite well, which was a bit of a surprise to me. But, it seems that when I made the decision to rent my house so that I could focus financially on my candle-making business, everything fell into place so neatly. I found a great tenant immediately and at the same time, I was able to cut down to 32 hours per week at work. This let me put more time into the business and freed up one day each week for myself.

I am still in quite a state of turmoil. I have a very strong feeling that all these changes are for the best, but I am still trying to make sense of it all. I believe in fate. The best way that I can summarize this time in my life; I chose a new path to follow, where it ends--well, I can't really see it from here, but destiny will expose itself as it sees fit.

Credits

Edited by Reeta Sinha.

Reeta Sinha is a librarian living in Northern California. In her spare time (she makes sure she has plenty of it now) she reads, writes, walks, takes photos, watches movies, listens to music, and reaches out in as many ways as possible to new friends and old, and her family that is spread around this world.