Welcome! Here's to Survival!

Thanks for stopping by, it has been awfully quiet here this week. The neighbors keep to themselves and magically appear only when you run out of clothes line after washing 20 tablecloths...and offer you theirs. You know they are watching you; fumbling with the giant cloths in the high winds here on "the rock"; your inexperience with hanging clothes on the line - a meager effort to assimilate. If you don't go to the pub this week you may not actually have a conversation with anyone but your husband. Who is very tired most of the time and prefers to watch TV.

Here is where the survival piece kicks in. Having grown up in the woods with only a few kids my age in the neighborhood, I have become accustomed to keeping myself entertained. Since a child I have been able to spend hours on arts and crafts. Time consuming activities that give you some sort of product to look at and love as a result of your efforts. I have had to revert to this method of thinking.

My late teens and twenties were spent living in big cities and gallivanting around the world. I stumbled upon my husband in one of these cities and am now married to a foreigner...which brings me to "the rock". I am now the immigrant and am waiting for my residency to go through and cannot work at this time. Not to tire you with the details but basically I ended up in this small town because it was easier to come this direction and is cheap to live here on 1 low income.

Words that come to mind when I think about our situation: isolation, loneliness, quiet, desolate, windy, cold, unfriendly, distant, remote, undeveloped, lacking, without. Rough train of thought for newlyweds. This has me fighting with deep bouts of depression and anxiety. Rock on! (or on rock in my case).

Every day is a strange battle to stay away from the blues. To feel fulfilled in my efforts that day. To be entertained and amused. To feel worthwhile, and that there is some point to this suffering. In writing this blog my good friend Megs and I hope to focus on what we are doing to survive; whether or not it is working.

Disclaimer: while this post is rather blue, it was necessary to paint the picture of where I am; some background to shed light on future posts. I hope to bring a more positive spin on some of the activity posts - informative, educational, entertaining, hopeful. Those are the words I would like to have come to mind.