Sometimes we get so used to the status quo that we forget we can change it.
—Muriel Sterling, author of Simplicity
Jen Heath hurried along the downtown Seattle sidewalk, hunching inside her coat against a freezing rain, her holiday to-do list dogging her every step, breathing down her neck. Trees along the street twinkled with white lights, and store windows boasted displays of Santas, presents and happy elves. A steel drum band had set up in the Westlake Mall and was playing “Jingle Bells.” Bah, humbug, she thought grumpily as she strode past them.
Anyone peering inside her head would think she hated the holidays. She didn’t. She loved them. She just didn’t love being so darned busy.
How had she gotten stuck planning the office Christmas party? Oh, yeah, Patty Unger, her supervisor, had volunteered her. Thanks, Patty. Not that she minded planning a party. But having to plan one this year wasn’t fun. It was just one more thing to add to a very long list.
In addition to her full-time job, she sold Soft Glow Candles on the party plan—all so she could whittle down what she owed on her credit cards, keep up her car payments and make the mortgage on the First Hill condo she could barely afford. The car she’d needed, but the condo? What had she been thinking when she bought it? Oh, yeah. She hadn’t been thinking. She’d taken one look at the granite countertops, the hardwood floors and the view of the Seattle skyline out the window, and condo lust had come over her like a fever. By the time the fever broke she was a homeowner. (Thanks to the bank and her parents.) And her charge cards were maxed out. (Because, of course, she’d had to furnish the new condo.) Now she was a stressed homeowner.
Who was never home. She had three candle parties booked this week and two more on the weekend. The following weekend she had another candle party on Saturday, and then on Sunday a cookie exchange at her sister’s, followed by the church choir concert. Oh, she’d be home later that evening, along with eighteen other people since she’d volunteered her place for the post-concert party. (This was the symptom of yet another fever—new-owner pride. She’d been dying to show off the condo, and hosting a party had seemed like the perfect way.) The day before, she’d gone to see the gingerbread house display at the Sheraton Hotel with her mother, her sister and her niece Jordan. She’d been pooped but when she’d tried to wiggle out, Toni had reminded her that this was a tradition and, anyway, she needed to spend time with her family. Guilt—it was the gift that kept on giving. After that, she’d visited her great-grandma, who’d complained that she’d almost forgotten what her great-granddaughter looked like. It seemed everyone in her family was giving guilt for Christmas this year.
Tonight she absolutely had to do laundry. Except what she really wanted was to flop on the couch and watch It’s a Wonderful Life. None of her friends understood what she saw in that old movie, but she’d been watching it with her family every Christmas since she was a kid. Well, except for the past couple of years. She’d been too busy, and not in a good way.
She was determined to have a wonderful life now that she’d ditched her husband. No more fights about money. No more fights about how she mismanaged her time. No more fights about, well, you name it.
When they’d first married, he’d loved her spontaneity, her joie de vivre. After a year he developed a vision problem and saw only her flaws. They fought about everything from money to the amount of time she spent with her friends. “I don’t know what we’re doing together,” Serge had finally stormed one night, throwing up his hands.
Neither did she. And that had been the beginning of the end.
Now she was in charge of her own destiny, her own life. Which was fine with her. Except this new life wasn’t exactly playing out the way she’d envisioned. When a girl barely had time to wash her bra she was in trouble. When was she supposed to squeeze in things like dating? And if she didn’t even have time to date, what was that going to do to her sex life?
She scowled. Many of her friends were now having babies and she’d have loved to have one of her own. She sure didn’t see a bassinet on her horizon, though, and at thirty-two her eggs were probably giving up all hope of ever meeting a sperm.
Well, girls, I don’t know what to tell you. You’re just going to have to hang in there, because right now I don’t have time to find a new man. There was a depressing thought.
Jen caught her bus on Marion Street. It was crowded as usual with tired workers, students, street people and shoppers carrying bags crammed with merchandise. Standing room only. That made her even grumpier.
But then, everything made her grumpy these days. Maybe it was living in the city. What would it be like to have a cute little house in the country? Or maybe a cottage in the mountains? What would it be like to hark back to a simpler time, a simpler lifestyle?
She thought of the book her sister had given her for her birthday the month before—Simplicity. She’d been trying to read a little of it every evening before she went to bed, but couldn’t seem to get past page one. She’d wake up halfway through the night with the book on her face.
She’d managed to get through the blurb on the back of the book, though, and it sounded impressive. The author insisted that anyone, no matter how busy, could simplify her life. It was a matter of prioritizing and slowing down your days and falling into a natural rhythm. Being in sync with nature.
What would her life be like if she lived at a slower pace? What if she took time to sit by her condo window and watch the snow fall (not that much snow ever fell in Seattle), instead of running around like a gerbil on a wheel, dashing from event to event, working at a frantic pace so she could live the good life? When it came right down to it, was her life that good? She was so busy racing through it she had no time to savor any of it. It would be nice to learn how to bake bread, grow a garden, knit. Heck, it would be nice to have time to breathe.
The bus lurched to a stop and a fortysomething woman got on, balancing a huge armful of purchases, shopping bags dangling from her fingers. She squeezed in between Jen and an older man in an overcoat that smelled of damp wool. The newcomer smelled like perfume overload and Jen sneezed.
“Bless you,” said an older woman who was occupying a seat behind where Jen stood.
“Thank you,” Jen murmured.
The newcomer grabbed for the handrail and bumped Jen with one of her bags. That, plus the sudden forward motion of the bus, nearly sent Jen toppling into the lap of the older woman. “Sorry,” she muttered.
Meanwhile, Suzy Shopper was still wrestling with her bags. One got away and landed on Jen’s foot, nearly crushing her toes and making her yelp. What the heck did she have in there, weights?
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” said the woman, picking it up and managing to whack Jen with another bag in the process. “My daughter’s Christmas present.”
Jen’s eyes were watering. Was her foot broken? She caught her breath and managed a polite smile. “Looks like you got a lot done.” Which was more than she could say. She hadn’t started her shopping yet.
“This is the last of it,” the woman said. “I found these dumbbells on sale at Penney’s.”
“Dumbbells.” Jen nodded. “You had weights in that bag.”
The woman blushed. “Mmm-hmm.”
May the next toes you drop them on be yours.
The bus driver called Jen’s street and she hobbled toward the back exit, trying to make her way through the crowd. “S’cuse me, s’cuse me. Sorry.”
One woman was too engrossed in what was on her e-reader to even know she was on a bus. She stood in the path of the exit like a boulder in a red coat. An inconsiderate boulder.
“Excuse me,” Jen said, trying to slip past. The boulder didn’t budge.
The bus doors heaved open.
Jen tried again. “Excuse me,” she said a little louder. Still nothing. She said it a third time and gave the boulder a nudge. It was just a nudge. Really.
The red boulder lost her balance and grabbed for the nearest bit of stability —a tall, skinny woman in sweats and a Santa hat bearing a pink bakery box. The tall, skinny woman lost her hold on the box and down it went, spilling cupcakes with green frosting everywhere. She gasped and the woman next to her, who now had green frosting skidding down the arm of her coat, let out a groan.
A nearby man wearing a dirty peacoat and a scruffy beard picked up a cupcake that had landed on the floor, frosting side first, and began to eat it.
All three women glared at Jen. The skinny one bent to pick up her ruined goods. “You should watch what you’re doing.”
“Sorry,” Jen said. Willing the bus doors not to close, she fumbled in her purse and pulled out her wallet. “Let me pay you for those.” The minute she opened her wallet and found nothing there she remembered that she’d impulsively put her last three dollars in a Salvation Army bucket earlier that day. “I guess I don’t have any cash on me.”
The skinny woman scowled.
“If you’re gonna get off the bus, get off,” the bus driver called. “We have other stops to make.”
“I’m really sorry,” Jen said again. “Um, Merry Christmas,” she added as she hobbled down the steps onto the curb.
Neither woman wished her a Merry Christmas in return. In fact, the skinny one wished her something about as far from it as a girl could get. The doors shut and the bus lumbered off, shooting up a rooster tail of icy water and splashing her.
Bah, humbug.
* * * * *
You can see why Jen’s inspired to move to
Icicle Falls. Join her soon in
THE COTTAGE ON JUNIPER RIDGE.
Jen’s new year and her new life will be filled with resolutions: Simplify! Appreciate the beauty of the coming spring! Enjoy nature! Meet brand-new friends! Read books! And not exactly on her list but bound to happen...fall in love.
THE COTTAGE ON JUNIPER RIDGE
is available in March 2014.