What's Different

I would not call myself an early morning person. I never have been and I never thought I would be. However, something has changed and I am ready to start the day earlier than seems reasonable. I posted on Facebook that I am worried because 6:30 a.m. now feels like sleeping in.

It's true that there is a lot to do. School has been out for ten days and, due to circumstances beyond my control, I am working with a new financial advisor and looking for a new auto mechanic.

The jury is still out on whether or not I will stay with the investment firm I researched and personally selected - the second in four years where the woman I worked with has moved on. The problem is that I have my own ideas about where I want to invest and the men I've tried to work with are not interested in what I think. Their first question is always, Do you have money invested elsewhere? Yes I do, in my education and in the education of my children. Women look at my financial and personal history and say, Your investment is in your children. So I may pack up my proverbial bag and follow Meghan to her new firm, where at least I know I will be heard. I need to move quickly because I have some money to move by July 1.

I don't have the luxury of time with car maintenance, either. In the last eight weeks I stopped in unannounced a couple times to the repair shop I have trusted for five years. Something was amiss. Since January the cars have been disappearing from their lot and mechanics have been disappearing from the garage. The last time I stopped in to have my battery checked and a headlight replaced I was the only customer in sight and Andrew asked me to pay in cash. I don't carry cash, so he asked me to drop it off later in the week. No one answered the phone that Friday; I stopped to put the money in the key drop on Saturday to find the owner repairing a garage door. Unprompted he started spinning the story that business has been slow because people don't have work done on their cars in the spring. Last week I called to schedule an oil change, only to get an answering machine. We stopped by the shop on Friday to find everything closed up tight and the sign gone. A friend recommended her mechanic, who changed my oil and fixed a rattle I've had for a year, so that may work out.

Changes, always dealing with changes. The words "embrace the changes" came to mind last night on the way home from my daughter's house. I am helping her paint her kitchen. Any big job like that requires days of prep work before you get to the fun of painting. One thing has led to another and now three rooms are involved in the renovation. We are rearranging cupboards and creating storage solutions for most of the downstairs. It's fun to meet the challenge of the job together.

It makes sense that my days are starting earlier than ever. It has been a long time since I have had so many things to take care of and so much to look forward to.