Last weekend, I hosted the Alternate ROOTS Executive Committee in my home for one of their quarterly-ish, two-day, face-to-face business meetings. You may remember I worked for ROOTS nearly six years, remain a loyal and active member. Having their leadership here at the house while I didn’t have to do anything but throw open the doors was very surreal after all those years of meetings, retreats, and major events I facilitated.

Me and some girlfriends celebrating at the Chattahoochee Coffee Company after a lovely hike.

While I used their presence during the days to get out and participate in community events or hike, I came home at evening to share meals and enjoy their company. I especially took the opportunity to have a campfire in my backyard. ‘Tis the season!

A friend explained to a newer friend all that she’d witnessed in me in terms of personal transformation, about my home, and the ways I’d gone about manifesting intention and ritual everywhere. It meant a lot to me that she was paying so much attention because she herself is a ritualist.

Inevitably, the subject of my housewarming ceremony came up in the course of that conversation. I hadn’t thought about it in a while, but what fun to re-tell the story! It led me to go back and review the energies or values that I welcomed and called in three years ago:

• creativity
• hospitality
• friendship
• food
• community
• protection of the natural world
• health & healing
• love & partnership
• spirit

As the re-visiting and reverie has stuck with me over the course of this week, I came to understand how powerful that ceremonial blessing truly was.

Trust me, there are times–long stretches of time–where I get busy and do not honor these commitments the way I’d like. Still, just in reflecting on this past week, I started seeing all sorts of manifestations of these energies…

Food: Despite being an ardent soup-maker for many years, I had one particular threshold still to cross. I made my own soup stock for the first time.

Hospitality: I have so many friends and colleagues coming through to stay with me these days. It thrills my heart when people choose my house as a place to lay their head.

Spirit: Am reading the most amazing book about the spiritual and practical transformation of gratitude right now. Highly recommended! Also, even though I’m only in my early forties, I also did my will and advanced directive recently. Please do this for your family as well. It’s important.

Community: I was vastly disappointed to be traveling for work this week and missed being at home for the election. I wanted to participate in such an important appointment in the life of my community. Still, I’ve made it out to many other events and have been volunteering as time allows.

I graduated from throwing scraps in the backyard to having a real, honest-to-gosh composter.

Protection of the Natural World: Meet my new blueberry bush. See that compost at its roots? I made that compost!

Health & Healing:  I hosted a yoga class here at the house this morning. We had so much fun stretching ourselves and having a post-election, spirit-restoring conversation over snacks, tea, and coffee afterward.

Friendship: So many walk & talks, deep conversations, long-distance/internet high fives, and opportunities to love and support one another.

This is the autumnal view from my office window while I write.

Creativity: Not only have I been writing like crazy, but, inspired by the luminescent-with-childlike-glee TV show, Making It, I’ve also already begun making Christmas presents.

Love & The Pursuit of Partnership: While I’m not currently in the pursuit of partnership, I will say that I have done an excellent job of being my own partner lately. Life got pretty busy there for a couple weeks, and I did my level best to stay steady and strong. Self-care, anyone? I would even go in and make my breakfast smoothie and set up the coffee pot the night before. I came to think of myself as a fantasy partner, leaving early for work the next morning, who does a sweet thing for his love by fixing her breakfast before tiptoeing out in the pre-dawn hours.

[Shoutout/love note to my friend, Nicole Garneau, the ritualist I mentioned earlier in this piece who gave me mad props for creating the housewarming ceremony. She also helped me come to the idea of being my own life partner while continuing to wait for the life-long dance partner I seek.]

They say that the personal is political and vice versa. Of note from the week in politics, I took this story very personally. The first lady of our state insinuated that, because Stacey Abrams is single, she would not take care of the governor’s mansion as well. I believe, as others have assessed, that there was certainly a great deal of racism embedded in her statement. Frankly though, as a single woman who loves and takes care of her home and uses it as a healing, peace-building, community-centered space, this story just crawled all over me.

I say all this because, at times this week, I found myself smiling while climbing stairs, winking at myself in the mirror after an exciting and promising phone call, even laughing when I dropped something on the floor. My spirit is light. As it should be when you come to understand that you are fulfilling your intentions or living your best life, as Her Oprahness would say.

My life is neither too hot nor too cold, not too soft nor too hard. It’s juuuuuust right.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Y11hwjMNs]