The blank, unholy surprise of it

We have found our groove in Casa del Lobos.

In our experience, when you move into a new place, there’s always some period of adjustment–whether that home is a historic apartment in Frankfurt or a Spanish Revival/Arts & Crafts home in Chicago. You need to figure out where to put your stuff, how your routine changes, what your favorite corners will be. It’s like learning to dance with a new partner or trying to cook in an unfamiliar kitchen, it takes time to find a rhythm that works.

So much of our time these past few weeks has been spent in a flurry of activity: unpacking, painting, cleaning, hanging, rearranging, and so on. The last few days we’ve slowed down enough to really enjoy this lovely new home. Today we had fun with the kids, and after a nice dinner, we burned our first fire in the beautiful fireplace that is the center of our living room.

It was a perfect moment, the five of us sitting on the couch in the dark, watching the flames, talking about what we see. Liam and I dozed on and off, while Mark and the girls chatted.

Tomorrow I will have breakfast with a few of my favorite Chicago girlfriends; then next week I meet some dear mom-friends for drinks, followed by the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame fundraiser on Thursday (more to come on that in the next post).

What a marvelous balance of quiet family time and engaging time spend with friends and colleagues–a grand way to start a new year and a new decade.

Published by Valya

Valya Dudycz Lupescu has been making magic with food and words for more than 20 years, incorporating folklore from her Ukrainian heritage with practices that honor the Earth. She’s a writer, content developer, instructor, and mother of three teenagers. Valya is the author of MOTHER CHRISTMAS, THE SILENCE OF TREES, and the founding editor of CONCLAVE: A Journal of Character. Along with Stephen H. Segal, she is the co-author of FORKING GOOD: An Unofficial Cookbook for Fans of The Good Place and GEEK PARENTING: What Joffrey, Jor-El, Maleficent, and the McFlys Teach Us about Raising a Family (Quirk Books), and co-founder of the Wyrd Words storytelling laboratory. Valya earned her MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her poetry and prose have been published in anthologies and magazines that include, The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Kenyon Review, Culture, Gargoyle Magazine, Gone Lawn, Strange Horizons, Mythic Delirium. You can find her on Twitter @valya and on Mastodon.social @valya

2 thoughts on “The blank, unholy surprise of it”

  1. silveringridd says:

    this makes me wish so many things…that i had a new home of my own to decorate…a fireplace…a family to curl up with…

    i love this.

  2. charyvna says:

    Someday, the dream *will* be yours!

    In the meantime, you’re welcome to come share mine whenever you need a fix.
    😉

    xxo

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