What I have been doing is a lot of gardening and home maintenance, computer repair, and “home theater optimization.” (Separate posts to follow for some of these.)

The biggest change is that Danielle is now gone from roughly 5 a.m. until 6:00 or 6:30 p.m.—on a good day. On a not-so-good day, she hasn’t been able to come home at all, as her ship is prepping for a long-ish trip later this year.

This, as you can imagine, has been hard on her. Not getting to see Sean for more than maybe an hour a day will be the most difficult adjustment by far.

The adjustments I’ve had to make are trivial, by comparison. In addition to writing, Sean-rearing, and house-wrangling, I can now list “gardening” amongst my daily activities. It’s been a long time since I had a yard to care for, and I’d forgotten how quickly it can become an overgrown eyesore. I’ve been referring to all yard work as “gardening” because I’m hoping the Power of Positive Thinking will help me see the grasses, flowers, trees, and shrubberies outside my windows as part of a creative enterprise, and not simply as endless drudgery.

In fact, maybe I should refer to all my daily activities as “gardening.” Caring for the people and pets and other possessions that fill my family’s life.

It sounds very Zen, don’t you think?