May 31, 2026
Tomorrow, it will be JUNE already?! How is this possible?
I haven’t written a lot since my move because it’s either been one extreme or the next: either work or unpacking. Nothing much in between.
Work has been such fucking bullshit with the realization that I’m just going to have to suck it up and work two peopes’ jobs with the support I’ve been given, and I’m also realizing that I’m working with some seriously not-nice people.
Yet, every time I wonder if I made the right decision to come back to this company in the same position I had oh so long ago - I get to the point where I’m questioning my whole move. And then suddenly, something really good happens and I’m back to being just fine about this gig.
Happy, even! Like, energized by it!
And every time I’m wondering if I did the right thing by moving back into an old building where I lived 20 years ago…feeling a little like, have I not grown out of this space?
But then I run into a new friend, and another, and another (!) on my dog walks or walking through the hallways, and I realize that YES, I am a whole different person than I was 20 years ago, and I’m excited to be here.
I need to find the old entries when I was here last. I need to find the entries about the master leather crafter - the guy who has a shop in the artist quarters on the first floor. Long, long story - one that will take a little while to tell, but I ran into Art (that’s his name) the other day, and he told me about the much larger building he’s moved into (in addition to keeping the leathercrafting part in my building), and that I should stop by!
Well, I did. On Saturday. And I am overwhelmed by what he’s doing.
See, in addition to being an artist, he’s also incredibly philanthropic. He loves helping his community, and he does a lot of work with people in need - people who might need skills to start a business; people who need to get back on their feet after a traumatic event. He also works with kids. He’ll work with anyone who wants to get their creative juices flowing.
His whole new studio is filled with equipment: sewing machines, leather crafting equipment, screenprinting presses, a podcast studio (!!!), a computer room, candlemaking station, jewelrymaking, etc. The list goes on and on.
He told me to come by any time! I told him I want to help and support him with whatever I can.
Do you see where this is going?
I think I want this to be part of my volunteering projects!
So much more to follow about that, but the thing I found so striking is that he told me a story of how he came across the building. I know I can’t explain it the way he told it, but the gist of the story was that he felt something eerie about the building - like he’d been in his “new” building before. Something struck him about the place that felt familiar.
And then he figured it out, the building had been a different business that a childhood friend’s father owned, and Art had been in the building when he was 16 years old…nearly 60 years ago! Art is 75 years old. I figured that out because he said that the year was 1967 (the year I was born)!
So you see? You CAN come back to old, familiar places. But that doesn’t mean they are going to be the same as when you were there before.
Things change - no matter what.
And going back does not mean you’ve gone backwards. Because everything is moving in forward motion.
Are things going to look similar? Sure, maybe. But are they the same? No. Never.
I know I’ve lived a lot of life since I was here previously. I’m not the same person.
Dare I say I’m better than I was before?
And dare I say I am pretty sure I can make this new/old space and my new/old job EVEN BETTER than they were before!
I do dare.
xox,
GS
Loading comments...