Grey's Anatomy

Change is all around us, everyday, everywhere. It's what we all dread, at times, but what we all do. Think about it. You're not the same person you were 10 years ago. You're not even the same person you were 5 years ago. You change your hair, you change your clothes style, you change your mode of transportation. Life is change.

And that change has found me. For quite a while now I've been "looking" at condos. "Looking," in this case, means surfing online, checking the newspaper, but not really looking. While I was in Florida this past May, something changed. Maybe I really needed to be ready. Maybe real change finds you when you are ready and really need it. I set up appointments to see some condos the week I got back. Two weeks and numerous units later, I found one that called to me and told me this could be home.

The first time I walked into the unit I got a good feeling. It helped also that that day, after seeing Wrigley from the outside and from a rooftop deck looking at the back of the scoreboard, and with the Cubs being down by 7 runs, they came from behind to win 10-9. It just screamed that this was right, that this condo was the one for me, that all was right with this decision, that I was finally ready for a change.

I went to see the condo a second time, and felt the same way. I took pictures and sent them to friends and family to get their opinion. They all liked it, too. And so I made the bid, signed the contract, paid the earnest money. This change is going to be real. And I've spent time measuring, and furniture looking, and deciding what I like and what I want and more importantly, what I don't want. Change is good.

Change is also difficult, however. What do I do with all this "stuff" that has accumulated throughout a lifetime? There are always things that cannot be left behind, and there are always things that are easy to part with when you realize you still have something you no longer want or need. It's those inbetween things that are difficult, that grey area between right and wrong, between stay and go, between here and there.

What makes up this grey area is our lives, the unsentimental pieces, the necessary parts, the difficult times and the good times. This is the point where change comes in and says, "what do you do with this?" Do I change? Do I stay the same? If I change too much, will I still be me? The decisions will not be easy, but the decisions will ultimately define me, for a while at least. As in most things, black and white is easy. How we respond to the grey areas of life "make" us who we are, "build" us into what we will become, and allow us to grow along the way.