A quarter of a year in one place; few will be surprised that I’m updating with news of yet another transition. I plan to spend the month of September in Newport, Road Island working as an executive house keeper in a very large private estate. It is a freelance position and I’m promising myself to return to Maine and work for Vicki on October 1st. Life events have given me few other choices but to spend another stint in private service for the extremely wealthy. I will miss Maine and hope my love for this place and the pivotal people in my life will be reaffirmed with distance. I’m hoping to learn from a new city and make connections with each person I encounter on this new journey. I’m looking forward to provisioning in excellent farmers markets and cooking in a very well equipped kitchen. Happy to fluff towels, arrange flowers, and obsessively fold laundry for a month. There can be satisfaction and lessons in familiar tasks.
August swarmed me like a bully attacking my confidence and body. The last weekend of July brought a restless feeling of itchy feet that inspired me to wake, drive, and spend the day in Acadia National Park hiking and lounging next to a lake in my hammock. It settled my soul for the moment, but the tick that most likely found me that day would ravage my body for the next month with bacteria named Lyme disease. My recently purchased car then broke down in Vermont while at a wedding. It sat abandoned at a Subaru dealership in New Hampshire for two weeks before Matt and I could drive down and retrieve it on a flat bed trailer. I took it to a local auto shop for some VERY pricy repairs which attacked my well guarded emergency funds. Three weeks without a car in this small town robbed me of my routine and forced me to learn how to ask and receive help. I was over come by a sense of doom, depression, and fatigue. I ignored the aches, pains, night sweats, and fatigue of Lyme disease for 3 weeks before experiencing sever jaw pain and the paralysis of the left side of my face. A trip to urgent care and a fast blood test confirmed the case and I am now 4 days into the drugs. A bacterial infection, not self inflicted anxiety and stress sickness, was attacking my mind and body.
I sit here trying to make sense of this month of unfortunate events. I try to be thankful that the symptoms of this illness will effect me for months not years thanks to the obvious symptoms that lead to my diagnosis. Thankful for Matt and Meg who support me with kindness and a sense of calm. Thankful that I have a back up skill set and professional network that produced a job within days of looking for one. I hope to come back to Maine revived, healthy, and ready for the gifts of Fall. I’m ready to leave the month of unfortunate events in the wake of my mobile life.
Best,
Amanda Mar
Camden, Me
