DREAM MAKERS: First step is to draw a line in the sand.

Linda in the tasting room

WOW, WHAT A RIDE TOUR!: MY LIFE IN TRANSITION BLOG

Meet Linda, an assistant wine maker at Polotai winery, Roseburg Oregon.

She greets us out of breath in her high rubber boots and yellow bib coveralls.  She throws us a broad smile as she tells us she and her assistant are in the middle of chores and apologizes for the wait.  Linda is a woman in love with what she does.  I take this picture of her and she blusters. I tell her she is adorable with freckles that dance as she talks about her aha ha moment at 49 years old.  The day she drew the line in the sand about what she wanted for her life and walked away from a lucrative career to go to wine making school.

It makes me think that while most of us are carefully incubating our “Under The Tuscan Sun” dreams, Linda has made her’s a reality.  She hopes to own a winery someday and I believe that she will. She has already made the gutsy-scary move to leave the safety of the shore and earn half of what she used to make in a year.  I ask her if it was worth it and her eyes spark. “YES”.  What is your favorite part of this job? I ask.  Her arms go up and her broad smile returns, “Everything, I love every part of it, she says.  I love being outside, working with the grapes, tasting, and meeting people.”

I am listening to Linda, but also hearing God speak through this diminutive, yet powerful woman.  Sometimes you have to draw the line in the sand; reject the sometimes logical voice of  the saboteur, to grab ahold of the life that is waiting.

I recognize the sound of my Father who sees in me the things I often overlook or forget to honor.  The stick in my hands is from him.  I draw the line softly, tentatively but clearly there is no going home. Pat and I our on our way to a life we could have never planned for and some days that strikes me as crazy, but not today. Today, I believe with all my heart we are exactly where we are supposed to be.

Kathy Vick, Reinvention Coach, Muse and Traveler, Walking her talk, taking the ride and drawing the line in the sand.

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