This week my family has been engaged in the final epic battle to move. Anyone that has done this realizes that sometimes the smallest things are the hardest, and when you are faced with doing it overseas on an airplane the little things that have been left behind have to go somewhere and often it can’t be with you because of limited room and distance.
Every step of these current life changes and processes have felt like a struggle as big decisions are made and then the energy is expended to make the decision happen. I remind myself often of the added stress I chose to endure by deciding to work through a kitchen remodel and to try and start a business. Although I’ve moved before, and generally know what to expect in that process, I’ve not started a business nor done a major remodel. And I certainly have not retired before. The decisions often come fast and furious and they are big ones that need to be considered, researched, and made with the smallest chance of mistake as possible. Its all left me feeling quite out of sorts and less than peaceful as I navigate the current unknowns of life.
On our way out of Germany our family took a weekend to relax and see Frankfurt. My youngest son and I chose to tour the Stadel Museum. As I walked into the room that housed the above painting Storm at Sea off the Norwegian Coast by Andreas Achenbach, I immediately connected with the intense emotion that it evoked. Like the little boat being rocked and bashed about by waves that are bigger than itself and at their mercy, I too have felt bashed and battered by the massive changes that life and my own decisions have thrust upon me.
Since seeing this little boat I’ve wondered what the end of the story was for it and its occupants. Did it ride out the waves, avoid those massive rocks and find better days on smoother waters? I hope so. I also wonder about myself and how I’ll fair when I get to a place in life where I feel less battered and tossed by the waves of life and massive change. Maybe we both can hang on, learn from the storm and be strengthened and find peace in calmer waters.