Early Summer Overshare

Hello, Happy Summer! 

I'm starting my first draft of this blog post from my bed in Portland, with a cup of coffee on June 17, 2022 - it is pouring.  POURING.  I came to garden with my daughter which we meant to do on my Mother's Day trip, but it's still not getting done.  Though I am grateful for rain, wow we are getting a LOT.

My son, Elias graduated from high school a week ago today, and then drove away the next morning for his summer job as a camp counselor.  His camp is about 45 minutes from my daughter's house in Portland, so I'll see him, and smell his socks today.  He's coming here to do laundry and have dinner with us.  

I have to say all my dramatic dread of his graduation came to not much.  I really enjoyed the events surrounding the graduation and the ceremony itself.  He was really happy, and though he really had the most ridiculous case of senioritis I've seen and barely attended the last semester of school, he was engaged and let us celebrate him.  Elias was in this school district  for 13 years and this is a small town, so watching these young adults we've known since kindergarten, graduate, was very sweet.

My husband (and I) and two of his siblings bought a house with an in-law unit to accommodate my brother-in-law, who I mentioned in the last blog will be living with us indefinitely.  We live near a really great veterans center in Southern Oregon and after being a lifelong Californian, my brother-in-law is happy with the ease of getting services and adjusting to his new country life.  This was not our plan, but as many families have experienced in these last few years, long time arrangements that been working, shifted.  So here we are. I just signed a two year lease at my new office space and that is helping to ground me in the reality of the situation.

I would move to Portland full time tomorrow!  All I need is my business and my kids to enjoy a full life.  I love the things Portland has to offer, museums, events, restaurants, INSPIRATION. 

My husband has a rich community and established work in Ashland, and now we've agreed to this family commitment that would be out of our reach financially in Portland, it looks like my dream of city life is postponed.  I can (and love to) travel back and forth and will plan on doing so.  My daughter will be in Portland for a while. My son plans on living in Bend, OR, three hours from Portland and Ashland but we'll see.  He's 18 and has lived in a tiny town his whole life as the youngest child and grandchild, to both sets of grandparents. He has no idea what he wants.  LOL, understatement.

I am working on a monthly subscription box, I am working on subscriptions for repeat buyers (at a discount) and excited to feature fragrances of the week.  I have a big tech week next week, to try to get subscription software ready.  I heard today that I might need to update my whole site first (😱) so be patient with me please. Talk soon!