No Place Like Home

Say what you will about getting older, it ain't all bad. Because for all the aches, wrinkles, and uncooperative body parts that have accompanied recent birthdays, there's been one new arrival that I wasn't expecting.

Contentment.

It's not that I was unhappy in my youth, but I was restless. As a twenty-something my brain was like a heat-seeking missile constantly searching for some elusive target that would allow me to realize that--"ding ding ding"--this is it!

But just what was "it"? A glamorous job that pulled down big bucks with a trendy loft in the City? Or was it a husband, kids and a home in the 'burbs? Maybe "it" was a career as a globetrotting journalist or a Peace Corp volunteer in the Congo. Maybe I was meant to be an entrepreneur with my own bakery or bookstore. I wasn't quite sure. And so I kept looking, anxious and unsettled.

Meanwhile I moseyed through my thirties dabbling in the corporate world, sometimes satisfied and other times convinced that Madonna was living the life I was meant to have.

Then a couple years ago I bought a new home. A townhouse actually, the modest type of place where, not Madonna, but Madonna's personal assistant might reside.

For me it was perfect. Bursting with old-time charm, it had hardwood floors and paned windows with a spectacular view of the valley below. It looked more like a country cottage than the cookie-cutter condo it really was. An added bonus was that the Home Owner's Association didn't have unreasonable pet restrictions like those imposed at my previous residence. This meant I could finally get a dog. And that's just what I did, bringing Elvis, a rescued ex-racer greyhound, into my world. And with my new home and new dog, slowly life started changing.

Instead of planning weekend trips to Lake Tahoe or dining at ritzy restaurants in San Francisco, weekends are now spent repotting plants in my patio garden while Elvis basks in the sun alongside me. I spend more time at The Home Depot than Nordstrom, more concerned about fertilizer than fashion, molly bolts than make-up.
Read more >>

Continued on page 2: »