August update

Hello all. I'm sure a few of you are chomping at the bit waiting for my latest update. Well, here it is.

The primary focus of this summer has been my relocating to a smaller living space and adjusting to a new job. First the job.

I really enjoy my job. While it is easy, it is far from mind-numbing. I am learning about value, appraising, and the home buying process a little bit each day, and am looking forward to the volume picking back up. Between the summer season and the hits the mortgage industry has taken this year, our volume has been about 50% of what we were seeing earlier this year. However, with interest rates dropping and families returning to school schedules, we expect volume to increase. Regardless, I enjoy working with my coworkers and really, super appreciate a hands-off boss. It's nice being treated like an adult. The biggest adjustment, though, has been going from a stand-on-your-feet-50+ hours-per-day job to a sitting-on-your-butt-8 hours-per-day job. September's focus will be reintegrating exercise and movement into my life.

I really, super-love my new home. I am still - STILL - sorting through things and purging, but the amount that I've let go of is monumental. I've begun sorting memorabilia, and I hope to finish sorting those boxes within the next few months. I keep pretending that I can do it in a day, but since I didn't acquire it all in a day, it's unrealistic to believe it will be gone in a day. Well, if I want to actually go through it and make sure there are no important papers like birth certificates and car titles in it all. I must admit I'm really enjoying going down Memory Lane. It's exactly the perspective I need right now.

Church life continues to be a blessing and a delight for me. I am still cantoring at St. Leo's, and I've begun also singing at weddings and funerals. For pay even! I botched a wedding a few weeks ago (it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't lovely either), and that experience has really helped me. I wanted to quit after it, but my music director, Barbara, has been super encouraging. "Sometimes you've just got to live through it." The wisdom of those words have helped not just in my singing, but in many areas of my life, too. She then turned around and offered me an opportunity to sing Schubert's "Ave Maria" at the Feast of the Assumption, an important holy day honoring Mary. And I did it. I lived through it. Twice. Was it my best? For that moment, absolutely. Will I continue to refine that piece? Absolutely. I learned more in those two performances than I'd ever thought possible.

Other than those big items, there is not much else to say. I'm just continuing to reconstruct my life on more firm ground than before, and while that's not sexy or glamourous, it's necessary for the joy and love I expect to continue coming my way. God is good - super good - and I look forward to seeing what miracles He has prepared for me!!

Peace blessings and joy,

mg