As the year finally squelches into summer, the changing season seems a good reflection of my own life.  Having made the decision last December, that 2011 would be my final year managing the ABC Treehouse, I bounced from one idea to the next in my search for the answer to ‘what next’.  John and my friends were great about keeping their cool while I dreamed (often and vocally) of leaving these flatlands for mountainous terrain, the city for a village, my apartment for a cottage, garden attached.  After almost 20 years of living thousands of miles from my sister and her daughters, this tired traveler was ready to go home, and rebuild family ties.  But events and a good long walk alone in the Scottish hills helped clarify things.  The most important (for me) being that ‘family’ is wherever John is.  And he is in Amsterdam.  I wish I could fix our lives and careers so that they could happen closer to my sis and my oldest friends…but John and my newest friends are here, so here is where home is, at least for the forseeable future.  Mountains will have to be visited on holidays, and I am investigating ‘windowfarming’ as a way of dealing with my ‘gardenlust’.  My dream of having a big dog to walk through the countryside with, has been adapted to a small dog who will fit in my bike basket.  We meet Buddy soon, and are happy to be adding him to our collection of surrogate children.  We think he’ll get on with his feline siblings, and we’re excited to be growing our ‘family’. 

Moving the career forward, after the Treehouse, is taking some exciting turns too.  The biggest choice seemed to be whether to (finally) focus on my writing, or continue the cultural center thing.  But this mental struggle started reminding me of my younger days, when folks pushed me to choose between calling myself a dancer or an actor, until a choreographer encouraged me to call myself a ‘performer’, which included both –  and later between being a performer or producer, until I came to the Netherlands and discovered the word ‘theatermaker’.  I have an idea, and if it works, I will have to come up with a new name for what I do.  But there are already a couple of words that fit: fun, exciting, challenging.  It’s a good place to start, and Here is a good place to start it.