Today is a Bahá’í Holy Day, which is a blessing, because I really needed a day off! I spent two hours at the beach, wading, taking a quick dip in the ocean (it’s cold this time of year). I took photos of pelicans in flight and a crab that wanted to keep dashing in and out of his hole. The wildlife felt like a mirror of my life right now. I’m peacefully spending time with more people (flock of pelicans) – the Bahá’í community in Sarasota, friends for meals, and I have two coaching clients here. However, I’m going in and out of my crab hole, too! (see beach photos)
The new marriage preparation book is going beautifully. It has been an enormous task – far more than I anticipated – to work with 50+ experts and edit their 100+ essays. I still have my own sections to write, too! My daughter, Jennifer, is providing administrative support for about 3 hours each week, thankfully. My editing skills, honed over years, have taken another leap forward in excellence with this project. I’ve loved the process, because it has included coaching the marriage experts in looking at how to use their specialties to apply to premarital couples. They have also allowed me to suggest content based on my own experience and knowledge gained over the years. As I edit, I feel as if I’m also going through my own personal process of completing and honoring my marriage with Craig, as well as going through marriage preparation for whatever happens in the future. (No, I haven’t met anyone, yet!)
It has been a gift to have two life/business coaching clients here in town. Working with them is giving me more understanding of how to incorporate character content into coaching. They are great people, and I love helping them move forward in their lives and cheering their successes.
The massages are beginning to unlock my body from the mess it was in on arrival. Joe says I wasn’t as bad as last summer, but I definitely had gotten my neck, back, and shoulders fused together in a stress-filled block. I’m back standing very straight and moving more freely. The sunshine down here is fabulous for uplifting my mood, and temperate enough this time of year that the windows are open all the time. The person covering orders for me and sending me my mail keeps asking me how my vacation is going…I definitely don’t feel like I’m on vacation, but it’s a great place to work!
I’m likely here through mid-May. The book needs to be about ready for layout before I leave – at least that’s my plan! I’m still on target to launch it at the July Smart Marriages Conference in Orlando (http://www.smartmarriages.com/).
To help me with transitioning out of grief mode, I moved to a different bedroom here at the Circlewood house. The master bedroom that I used last year is darker. The one I’m in now is filled with light, with bright furniture and bedding. There are still triggering moments, of course. Thinking ahead to being at Smart Marriages without Craig there in person is hard. But, as of today I’m stopping reading the daily grief book I’ve been using – it is beginning to feel like it’s pulling me backwards.
Craig and I still commune regularly though – perhaps we always will. I’m reading a wonderful book called Hello from Heaven, which is filled with first-person stories of people’s after-death communications with loved ones and how it helped them believe in life after death. I’m glad I began with that belief already in place, but it’s fascinating to see all the various types of communication that happen, and the stories are very touching and confirming.
Well, that about catches you all up!
Much love,
Susanne
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