The rumor is true. I am selling Bee Cottage. Have sold it, in fact, closing this fall. And yes, it is hard to let go. Really hard. Lump-in-my-throat-all-summer-hard. But there comes a time.

If His Grace (aka my husband for new readers) hasn’t taken a shine to it by now, he’s not going to. Oh, he would come for a few days here and there, reluctantly. Though he did like the excellent donut place on Newtown Lane. Otherwise he might rather have been at the dentist. He has never said a word to me about selling and never would. But with my travel schedule, we are apart enough as it is. Adding more His-Grace-less weeks in East Hampton isn’t what I or we want, despite how I love Bee. I love him more. We live a beautiful life at Rancho la Zaca in California and keep a place in New York City. It is enough. Hell, it’s a lot.

Letting go is part of life.

I got to renovate that little house and take care of it, and it took care of me. And friends, and family, and more than a few strangers.

I got to write a column about it for House Beautiful, and I got to write The Bee Cottage Story for you. Wow. Thanks.

Now I get to write a new chapter. I don’t know what it is yet, but as sure as sunshine, there’ll be one. I’ve got a few ideas… How about Entertaining at Rancho la Zaca?

Meanwhile, there’ll be a bit more space. A bit more time. A few less bills. I’m grateful for that. And I am grateful for YOU, dear readers, friends, and family, for your encouragement, your inspiration, your wit, and your wisdom. To every single one of you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. And hey, just ‘cause my house is gone doesn’t mean you and I are gone. No sirree I’m right here with you to whatever comes next, right here in the sporadic-to-say-the-least blog and on Steady Eddy Instagram and all those other places.

But I sure will miss our time together at Bee Cottage. A friend reminded me recently of the immortal words of Winnie the Pooh, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” Yes I am lucky.

Tag sale, anyone? Watch this space…