The moving process is never for the faint-hearted, but if you find you must move, it does give you an opportunity to update your perspective and purge some baggage, which is good for both mental and physical health.

So, in addition to downsizing papers and possessions, I’ve revised and simplified my landscape plan to reflect letting it go and simply making it presentable for sale soon.  This leads to more “being here now”, and less being heavily invested, emotionally and financially, in a theoretical future which may never happen.  It’s a big compromise for me buying a few conventional perennials at Lowes instead of sustainable natives to restore habitat, but it’s freeing in a way.

I may or may never have another opportunity to resume my pursuits, albeit on a much smaller scale, but I know I did my best under the circumstances, which weren’t always easy.  Not to mention, I’m older and more tired, so I’m just being realistic.

The next owners may or may not appreciate or maintain the gardens I created anyway, so all I can do is leave it more aesthetically and environmentally pleasing than I found it, and let it go.  I know if I were them, I’d be delighted to discover all the beautiful flowers, trees, and edibles appearing each year, some of which even I haven’t seen yet.  Or it could become a big sterile development, but it’s no longer my problem.

So I’m just enjoying what’s here now, and new flowers finally blooming for the first time.  It never gets old.  The only things getting old are me and the hideous cicada swarms.  Between them and the extreme heat, I had to cut work outside short.  Here’s what’s happening with or without me.