A shift, even just from one foot to the other, changes the view.

Since I last wrote a blog post in May 2014, my ground shifted in several ways.

We faced significant family challenges. I didn’t know whether we’d still be a family when we came out the other side, or whether we’d come out the other side at all. We did, and I’m deeply thankful for that.

We welcomed a new member of the family, but not in the usual way: an older brother, given up for adoption before my brothers and I were born, and who we hadn’t known about, contacted me. We’ll never know the reasons behind our parents’ decision, but it feels right to have him in our lives now.

We lost a dear friend and former neighbour to cancer. Sadness at the stilling of her bright and loving spirit, joy that she’d been part of our lives.

We moved from Ontario to British Columbia. This felt like being uprooted, even though it brought me back to the province where I was born.

We developed new relationships with my husband’s family, and discovered new friends in our new home to add to treasured friends in our former home.

I certainly lost things. I lost my perspective, and my sense of self for a while. I lost the joy of creating, and stopped making time for it, and so lost even more.

But I also gained things. The healing scenery out my window: mountains, trees, islands, water and sky. More new experiences with my beloved partner. More time for friends, even if we connect electronically instead of in the local coffee shop. More people in my world to love and to love me back. A new perspective, a new sense of self.

You can’t un-shift the ground, but you can take in the new view.