Getting Close

Our bodies are battered from the physical work of loading and unloading and cleaning and moving. Late nights. Early mornings. But we are almost there.

Fantastic First Weekend

We did it!

Finally (Almost) There

To say this has been terrible would be an insensitive comparison to the real trials of life: death, tragedy, loss.  After all, at this moment we are on a quest for dirt, right?  This is a happy time.  But it hasn’t been.  It’s been hard.  Unexpected things appeared, namely some pretty major water damage on the rental house. This led to shaken trust, hurt feelings, hundreds of heated discussions, and repeated thoughts of walking away from the whole thing.  Basically the beautiful fantasy was wiped away and replaced with muddled garbage.  No peace; no security.  Fear.

Mr. and Mrs. C’s Land

Pecans, persimmons, pears, apples, muscadines, and one scraggly little peach tree occupy the property. Mr. C. walked us all around today, identifying so many plants, pointing out where the invisible fence line is (surrounding an impressive 3 acres or so), and giving us what felt like an orientation as he was handing over the keys to the kingdom. This was a home, built, maintained and nourished by one family for forty years. Mr. C. had a quick step and a glow about him as he told stories about the goats they used to have, and mischievously encouraged Eddie and I to bite into a green, mouth-puckering persimmon. Mrs. C greeted Gordon with an embracing handshake and me with a pair of lovely mangoes grown at their new subtropical home. She showed me a picture of their mango tree, the large ripening fruit cleverly covered with socks to discourage grazing squirrels. She told us how they’d been praying that it would be a family to buy their place.

Today, there with the people whose home it actually is, the land felt more mine than it had before.

Boys trying out the place

Workshop

The Beginning:

A Dream Coming True

July 2015

I don’t know how to get there. Not without navigation. My new home. How often have I pulled up Google maps and looked at its satellite view and then clicked over to the old (current) neighborhood? How many times have I tried to zoom out just right to compare the size of the land and approximate distance from other humans?

It may not be vast if you come from old landowner stock. Or if you live in Wyoming. But for us, it’s amazing.