I emailed announcements for my new website to some friends and family last month.

Since then, have I been able to achieve a modicum of balance?
Did I make time for more life, less work?

Short, quick answer: Yes! I actually left the studio.

Left projects unfinished.
Ignored the pile of paperwork to sort through, scan, file, shred.
Indulged in friendship, lunches, laughing.

It was marvelous, Ta-Da! 🎵

One special visit I’ll tell you about was with Marta, my second cousin. Shameful to admit that we couldn’t figure out when we last saw each other – yet she lives only ten minutes away from me! How does that happen? Life, Work, Busyness – all culprits. None of them excusable.

She has inherited her parents’ house. It’s one of my all-time favorite houses from my childhood. Being with Marta in that house again….well, it was like stepping back in time – in all the good ways imaginable.

My favorite room in the house (actually, the favorite of everyone in the family) is the paneled den. Beautifully aged glossy honey-color wood paneling with knots and black matte hardware straight out of the early 1960’s. It evokes a bygone Americana era.

Being in that room, I could instantly feel my childhood – the fun, playful, happy, and carefree feelings of that time in my life.

That paneled room seemed to surround me in a nostalgic embrace and whisper, “Nice to see you again after all these years. Your memories of parties and long gone relatives are still here in my beautiful handmade walls. They are also saying hello.”

❧ Have you ever had a nostalgic return to a favorite childhood place?