Home…

For my entire life, I’ve never felt truly at home. I never thought about it until I was older, and even then I attributed it to other things, but I just don’t think I was where God wanted me yet, so my soul never felt settled. I began to think “home” was not so much a place, as it was a frame of mind. Until I arrived in New Hampshire/New England. I’m home.

Our last week in Minnetonka was a whirlwind, with Allie graduating, me retiring, and all of us wrapping up loose ends, canceling what needed to be cancelled, moving what needed to be moved, packing, sorting, setting up Allie’s grad/going-away party, and attending to the very last of all the hundreds of details. We were packed and ready to go mid-Monday-afternoon, and our little caravan of the three of us hit the road. Simmons, our creepy doll (what, like you don’t have a family creepy doll?) rode in the truck with me, so he had the best view as the miles rolled on by…..

We ended up taking 42 hours total, between taking non-toll roads, napping, stopping to let the dog out, and so on, so we arrived home early Wednesday morning. After sleeping a while, we unloaded the truck, and took a walk around the property. The house certainly put on a pretty outfit for our homecoming- we had just missed the lilacs, but the irises, Beauty bush, dame’s rocket, and many other wildflowers and perennials were in full display. 

Tennessee has never been happier since we arrived. He started sniffing the air as we were coming up the road to home, and couldn’t wait to get out of the car and start exploring. Even Toby (the cat) seems to love the house, and spends a lot of time curled up in one window or another. 

It’s just so quiet here. No air traffic, not a lot of car traffic, no sirens, no sounds but the wind, birds, a crackling fire in the hearth, and that’s about it. The days just go by, unpacking, sorting, exploring, going into town to take care of legal things (residency, licensing, etc.), and the mundane aspects of a simple country lifestyle. 

Today (Friday), we were brought two cords of firewood, which we stacked up in one corner of the barn. One cord was semi-seasoned for later this fall, and one fully-seasoned for burning now. 

The weather has been amazing- highs in the low 70’s, cooling off well into the mid-to-lower 50’s at night. We’ve just had a few windows open, and love the cool breezes that blow through the house. It sounds like it’s going to get pretty warm Sunday and Monday, but we have to head over to Durham for Allie’s orientation at UNH. 

We had to run to the nearest Home Depot (30 minutes away) to pick up a new lawn mower today, as the one we stored, and had hauled out, ceased to operate. We stopped by the grocery store to pick up some heirloom tomatoes, and Jenny made a lovely salad with tomato, red onion, vinegar, basil, olive oil, and salt and pepper- it was like summer in a bowl. These are the simple things we so look forward to enjoying in our new life. We are falling into a rhythm of morning coffee and devotions in front of the hearth, working for most of the day, then a simple dinner and a glass of wine or beer in front of the hearth before falling into the soundest sleep we’ve ever had. 

We’ll be continuing to unpack and sort, and hope to get our little old cars out for a ride soon. Then it’ll be back to work.

Thanks for stopping by- next update soon!