Coming Home

 My booth at Antiques In Old Town - complete with a show case for my jewelry.

The scene is set for me to fill with treasures!

Today time turned back for me and I am returning to my love of selling antiques. Only this go round I will sell small items and jewelry, some vintage pieces and many repurposed and made into new treasures that hold a story of their own. My days of lugging large cupboards are over - at least for now until my hip surgery is a thing of the past!

While I've been looking for a change in where I live, I overlooked that I lived happily with my shop when I was in Old Town, Lilburn. There was a magic being in that space and with the people I met. I was happy there. The shop across the street, where once I had rented space and many of the dealers I considered my friends over the years also rented space, was the cornerstone of the two block area. The owners were my friends, too. I had my shop for all of nine months, nine months that I bloomed as a widow, finding myself in a small community of people who felt like family to me. I wrote about my experience being a shop owner, that never sold anything, but tried to pull together a small artist/writer community. Then my finances reared up hinting I was going broke, and I moved out. My blog posts were on my own blog, on The Patch, an online newspaper, and on The Balancing Act's blog, which was part of Lifetime TV. I had a home away from home in a tiny hub twenty minutes from my house in Decatur.

Perhaps I've come full circle. This is where I need to be now. You can't recreate the past, but you can enjoy the now. And my 'now' will be moving back into a shop that I love in a town that feels like home. Wednesday I will begin filling my showcase and I am anxious to see what I come up with. Having been in the antique business for most of my adult life, I still have things tucked here and there, so when I dig around tomorrow, there is no telling what I'll find. I am excited, finally. The depression I've felt over the last months since my hip replacement surgery lifting, being replaced by a touch of euphoria.

I woke up early, the window open to let in a hint of fall air, the air conditioning unit turned off, so I could breathe deeply and hear myself think. The only sound around me, the snoring of the dogs, who did not share my excitement of rising at 5 am. Every memory I had of those nine months, and every post I wrote, came back to me, filling me with a sense of peace and wonderment, reminding me of all the good things in my life.

Tonight I revisited the past. I felt the warmth of it wrap me in its memories, the magic I felt writing late at night resurfaced, too. I've been a widow over seven years now, but only in the last two years have I felt more alone, and that I blame on health issues. I still have a way to go. My right hip needs surgery, which I hope to postpone until after the first of the new year. My left hip mending nicely. Perhaps in 2016 I will be the bionic woman, with two new hips. For now, I am thrilled to have a change of heart, finding my heart beating with excitement as I call myself an antique dealer once again!