One & a half weeks ago, I dramatically changed my life. After living in the outskirts of New York City for 21 years--the past 16 as a single mom in a large house in an expensive area & working for the past 5 years an hour's commute from home, I have now moved to a smaller home in a rural, less expensive area 19 miles from where I work. It's a plan I've had ever since I started my job as an elementary school librarian in a small, rural community 5 years ago. I was only waiting for my younger son to graduate from high school to put my plan into effect. Well, everything went according to plan, except there were a few things I didn't expect. The good news is that I am now in a small, comfortable house surrounded by corn fields, lakes, & mountains. The bad news is that--surprise, surprise--there are few doctors, stores, churches, etc. in this area & the house needs a lot of work. I moved from a very large house & now I am struggling to figure out where to put all this stuff I moved. How do we accumulate so much stuff?! I am starting everything fresh--having to locate shopping, tradespeople, church, as well as cleaning & unpacking alone. In a few weeks, my younger son will leave for college & I will be living alone for the 1st time in my life. I thought I was looking forward to it before I did it, but, at the moment, it's scaring the heck out of me! I feel inadequate & overwhelmed most of the time. I wonder if I've made a terrible mistake, but I suspect not. Through the gracious help of my older son, I'm back on the Internet after about 2 weeks away; at least, I can communicate again. I felt so isolated.

I turned 50 last March. My kids are both through public school & I am in a fairly stable job that I usually enjoy. I've given up on relationships working, but I, at least, thought I could make a comfortable, doable life for myself. Right now, I feel pretty shaky. Could I hear from others who've gone through life changes (&, hopefully, survived)?

Thanks,

Barbara