Change Will Come

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

Barack Obama

The weekend that my husband left, my friend Ashley drove down from Vicksburg to stay with me. Just showed up with a picnic lunch. We went down to the lakefront and walked, then sat under a tree and enjoyed all kinds of delicious cheese and fruits and other treats. My friend Ashley packs a really nice picnic lunch.

When we came back to my house, she asked me what kind of changes I planned to make to it. I told her how I wanted to paint my kitchen cabinets and rearrange my bedroom furniture. Before the night was over, she said 'Come on...let's do this' and two girls, one just three months out from a double mastectomy, moved half the furniture in my overcrowded bedroom into what had been my husband's office, and rearranged what was left in my bedroom.

At the time I felt a bit rushed by her. I wanted to make over my house to reflect my own style but I didn't know if I was ready to do it YET. But I think Ashley knew something I did not: a little change can do you good.

It's liked it pushed me through that first stage of grief (denial). Every time I walked into my new bedroom lay out I was reminded of the truth that my husband had left. I was on my own and free to make all my own choices.

Everyone deserves a girlfriend like Ashley.

Since then I did paint my kitchen cabinets and remake his office into a guest room. I bought a beat up old kitchen table from my hairdresser and painted it to be something cute.

The big project that's been waiting for all these three years is my bedroom and bathroom. The bedroom is a slate blue that I really do not love and the bathroom was an outdated gold with the same dark cabinets as the kitchen. And brown accessories. BROWN. Who accessorizes in BROWN? No thank you.

New year...time for a new project. I started with the bathroom because it's smaller and more manageable. But I have a bigger plan.

I'm going to paint my bedroom a dusty rose color, with a cranberry accent wall. I've already purchased a new ivory-colored duvet with a cranberry line drawing print. To tie it all in, I painted the bathroom cabinets pink, the walls ivory, and added cranberry accents including a new rug, curtains and I painted my full-length mirror.

All the brown accessories? Gone. I'm donating all that to the Habitat store in town.

Yes, I keep Luna's litterbox under the cabinet at the end of the room. I have a very small house.

I'm going to have to buy some pretty new pink towels to complete the look.

It was a lot of work over two weekends - 5 days total. And it's far from perfect. 'Why do it right when you can do it yourself' I always say! But I've created a space that I love from a space I've only barely tolerated for 10 years. And I did it all myself, except E helped me replace the light fixtures.

Now I'm really anxious to have my bedroom painted...but I'm exhausted and dreading the work and upheaval of painting my bedroom. But change will come.