You Will Find Peace Here

"You will find peace here"
Those words were prophetic. Bear and I moved in and began yet another chapter in our lives. We were empty nesters in a very large nest. We needed the space, literally and metaphorically.  In the quietness, I found my strength and my center again. I could feel my heart and soul knitting back together.
In the busyness, Bear found himself down in the woods, chopping down trees and clearing paths. On his John Deere mower he was often dirty and covered in grass and as happy as,well, a bear in the woods. We were mending in our own time and on our own paths.
It was in this house where I decided to make sweeping, life-changing plans. In the words borrowed from the movie Shawshank Redemption - you got to get busy living or get busy dying. I chose to get busy living. After a year of contemplation I decided to have weight-loss surgery.  It was the best decision I ever made. WLS allowed me to reclaim my health, reclaim my life and live in a way I thought was lost forever. I have never looked back and never regretted the choice I made.
It was also in this house where sweeping life-changing plans found us. A few years ago, I first noticed Bear was shuffling. After less-than-loving requests to "pick his feet up" failed and other physical symptoms appeared it was time for some answers. The answer was Early On-set Parkinson's Disease. How devastating to have spent nearly 30 years in military service as a helicopter pilot with no major incidents or accidents and then have the diagnosis of this disease.
After about five years, our dream house was turning into monument of what Bear could no longer do. I began to think as an army wife again- what is the next step?  Bear began to dig in his heels, thus setting up an emotional tug-of-war that lasted for quite a time until another sweeping life-changing force appeared on the scene in the form of one grandson.
When the baby came, for me, there was no more if it was only when.
I wanted to live in Hendersonville and Bear wanted to live in denial. At the first of the year, it was time. I announced my intentions and Bear announced his. We were not on the same page. (Major understatement). I tried to start slowly. When the Christmas tree and decorations came down I did not haul them up two flights of stairs into the walk-out storage. I packed them up and moved them to the detached garage. Then, I took all of the personal pictures off the walls. I packed up my beloved dish collections and moved them out to the garage. It was like trying to peel off a big ole band aid - a little at a time. It wasn't working.
I decided to take a deep breath and snatch it off quickly. A date to list the house to sell was set. Bear was like a five-year-old who doesn't want to go to kindergarten. This thing was going to happen.