{"id":523,"date":"2014-05-19T08:32:11","date_gmt":"2014-05-19T12:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/?p=523"},"modified":"2014-05-28T19:54:20","modified_gmt":"2014-05-28T23:54:20","slug":"change-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/change-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Change and Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MotherThe first thing I did in Massachusetts, after emptying the car of my mother and her bags, was to put the dieffenbachia plant back on her porch. The plant had spent the winter on my dining room table in New York while my mother spent the winter in Florida.
\nHow long do houseplants live, I wondered? I\u2019d been bringing this dieffenbachia <\/a>back and forth to my mother\u2019s summer home every May and October for four years. Since the year my daughter lost her fight <\/a>with cancer and I couldn\u2019t bear to let anything else die.<\/p>\n

\u201cCheers!\u201d my mother and sister and I toasted once we were all assembled. \u201cTo another great summer,\u201d we said, clinking glasses. I knew I was not the only one thinking it might be our last at October Mountain.
\nThings were changing. The packing and traveling each season were becoming difficult for my mother. Many of her friends were no longer there. One by one over the past years, the playing golf, barbequing on the deck, driving to nighttime theater, \u2026 had stopped. And now the cozy summer home would be put up for sale.
\nIt didn\u2019t seem possible that we would not keep returning summer after summer. Even as we settled into the familiar routine of opening up the house, I felt the loss.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learned loss is not only about losing a loved one. Loss can be losing a place you are rooted to, or a lifestyle. A friend of ours lost her mind; another lost her mobility. My sister has to give up the work she loves. I fight hard not to lose my dream. We all know loss. Dealing with it demands all the things we think we don\u2019t have, like strength, faith, patience, creativity. It takes courage to let go of what you love but can\u2019t keep. Sometimes all you can do is look to what\u2019s next. For better or for worse, something\u2019s always next.<\/p>\n

\u201cCheers,\u201d I say. Here\u2019s to the mountains that greened up over the weekend, to the spider that weaves web masterpieces in the lawn, to exquisite meals at Chez Nous Bistro<\/a>, to the old dieffenbachia. A toast to being able to get up and down stairs, to the West Massachusetts skies filled with bright stars, to family. To health and happiness.
\nHere\u2019s to another summer.
\nTo all of us. To what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first thing I did in Massachusetts, after emptying the car of my mother and her bags, was to put the dieffenbachia plant back on her porch. The plant had spent the winter on my dining room table in New York while my mother spent the winter in Florida. How long do houseplants live, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[141,144,102,142,143],"class_list":["post-523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1","tag-change-and-loss","tag-coping-with-life-changes","tag-dealing-with-loss","tag-losing-mobility","tag-loss-of-loved-ones"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}