In another couple of weeks, I will begin a new chapter in my life as my daughter and son-in-law begin a new chapter in theirs.  Two weeks from today, the daughter I have been close to all this time will no longer be living walking distance from me.  Instead, it will require a drive of at least 2 3/4 hours, (and that’s ONLY if there is no traffic between here and there!  But this is California!  When is there no traffic???)

The physical distance will certainly bring a lot of changes.  I won’t have a gym buddy, but over the last few weeks, I’ve pretty much gone on my own anyway.

I won’t have someone to bring me chicken soup when I’m sick (but I don’t get sick very often, and usually have a container of Trader Joe’s chicken soup in the house anyway). 

I’ll have to call on someone else to check on my animals if I go away for a couple of days.  But one of Heather’s friends is really good about that, so again, it’s a non-issue.

In reality, I think both of us have been changing our habits a lot over the last couple of months because we knew that the day was coming when we would no longer be close enough to shout. 

I’m making more effort to either go places by myself or meet up with friends.  I think the solitary life of a writer and freelance accountant makes me actually want company more often now, so I make the effort. 

There’s still a great deal of uncertainty, though.  I still don’t have friends I can just call and say “hey, let’s catch a movie/do lunch/meet for dinner or whatever.  So many of my friends are either married or in relationships that they have other commitments. 

So the next few months are going to be more transition for me, more evolution, more growth.  As usual, I don’t really know where my path will lead, but I know that it will lead me someplace wonderful, and that’s really all I need to know right now. 

I’ve signed up for a bunch of webinars, and keep getting emails letting me know that the replays are available (it’s almost impossible to pin me down to a set time!).  However, the more I listen, the more disenchanted I become. 

While I realize that these are business people, and their sole purpose for doing the webinars is to sell something, as the general theme (other than the sales pitch at the end) continues to have the speaker talking about how they have found the only one, true way to manifest my desires…well, frankly, I’m beginning to feel like the content is designed for less skeptical listeners than I.  Too many of them are delivering veiled (and sometimes not so veiled) intimations that “The Secret” and “Laws of Attraction” among others don’t really work…unless, of course, you know the speakers “special, secret technique for making things happen!” 

Thus, I’m finding that I listen for a few minutes, then end the recording because I don’t feel I need advice from arrogant, self-involved sales people.  And in my eyes, that’s really all they are.  Snake oil salesmen hawking their wares under the guise of giving you something useful and important.  Often, they spend 50 minutes talking about all the wonderful things they’ve done, and another 20 or so pitching their product.  At this point, the only real value I see in them is as examples for my copywriting class.  And I guess maybe that’s why they’re being put in my path right now.  Because they certainly aren’t teaching me anything new or valuable otherwise!

Which leads me to conclude that many experiences are put into our paths, but if we only take them at face value, we might be missing the real purpose for their presence in our lives.  Just as, over the years, I’ve learned what not to do from other people as often as I’ve learned what to do, some experiences are put into our lives as examples of something else, rather than to gain insight from the more obvious aspects. 

I’ve decided that from this point forward, I’ll continue to listen to some of the webinars, but now, I’m going to listen, not to gain any insight from the person’s experience on their chosen topic, but to observe the techniques they use to try to suck people into dropping 40 or 100 or 500 bucks on the product they’re offering at a deep discount, JUST for the listeners of the webinar! 🙂 

I may be a little slow at times, but I eventually get the point I’m supposed to see.  Clearly, there are people out there who have learned how to market themselves and what they see as a unique product (though if you listen to enough of them, the uniqueness quickly dissolves!), and I can stand to benefit from their marketing experience, not only in learning to write copy, but also when I begin marketing my own product (book, short story, or whatever else comes bursting from my fingers!). 

Once again I’m learning that no experience is wasted.  We can truly learn from them all!

My gratitudes tonight are:
1. I am grateful for the new road ahead of me, obscured as it might be right now.
2. I am grateful for the opportunity to continue widening my world.
3. I am grateful for the company of my kitties, as they make sure I know that I’m never really alone.
4. I am grateful for my friends who, in their own ways, encourage me to continue evolving.
5. I am grateful for the continued abundance in my life which gives me more and more things to be grateful for!

Love and light.