Transforming Fear Into Excitement

Do you remember the series I wrote back in November, "Memories of Mom"? My friend Judy, Judy, Judy recommended I write those happy memories as an antidote to the sadness that was threatening to overtake me.

On Monday, my therapist recommended I do something similar to transform the fears and anxieties I've been feeling about moving to Seattle into the excitement that also exists. You see, I was telling her about things I missed about Seattle, things I was looking forward to, and how in the last few years that I lived there, my enjoyment of living there turned into stress, and how I didn't want that to be the case this time. She said that my telling her about the positive things transformed me as I told them and that I should write a series of posts about them. So here goes.

I'm moving at the end of March. In April, the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival takes place in a set of towns about an hour north of Seattle. I love tulips and it's too hot in Houston to grow them. Sure, you can buy a pot of them and water them and enjoy them for a little while, but it doesn't get cold enough for the bulbs over the fall and winter. I've missed them.

The Tulip Festival is wondrous! Fields and fields of daffodils and tulips of all colors as far as you can see. And my favorite place of all is the Roozen Gaarde, which is landscaped with every tulip imaginable, and many that aren't. There are so many types of tulips, from the basic tulip we are all familiar with to tulips with fringed petals and coming in all shades of the rainbow.

My girlfriends and I used to go to the Tulip Festival when we could. One year we went, it rained and we took pictures of us looking very downcast in the rain, our arms filled with tulips. Another year, I was going with just one of my friends and her two young children, until her youngest barfed in the backseat all over everything, including her older brother. We went back home and I went by myself that year. But no matter whether I went alone or with one or two friends, I loved it, loved browsing through the fields and the shops and taking pictures. After we looked at the tulips, we usually wandered over to La Conner to have lunch and look at the shops. They had a most wonderful yarn shop there: I hope it's still in business!

This year, I will be there for the Festival and my girlfriends and I have already made plans to go. I'm very excited about this and plan to plaster my blog with pictures of tulips for your pleasure. If you ever get the chance to be in the Seattle area in April, you should definitely make time to visit the Tulip Festival.

Wow, I can feel the excitement bubbling inside of me and there's a big smile on my face. Yup, I do believe that writing this series is going to have a very positive effect on me and my upcoming move. I hope you enjoy it too!