We are in the community that Jamey and I lived in in college. It's been great. It's serene and happy here, it's woodsy and it suits us. We bought an older house with lots of character and we have been working hard at turning that into "our place." We have friends that wouldn't ever buy a "old" house, but I can't figure out why anyone would buy a "new" house. Old houses have character. You can walk in and feel love. Weird right? But I always buy based on how I feel about a place. And when I (I say I because Jamey never saw the house before I bought it with his power of attorney....he did actually approve before I went forward on the purchase) walked in it felt loved. Like a favorite quilt. You know the kind....it has some holes and it's getting a little threadbare in places, but it's your favorite and you can't wait to wrap yourself up in it at the end of the day with your hot tea and your book. We have updated some, we have done some electrical work, we are building a big screened in porch on the back as we speak. We added some chickens. They live in our backyard and they eat the ticks and the bugs that live back there. I hope they eat lizards too. We have those and I hate those. Do chickens eat lizards??? I need to look that up....Anway it's home and we are happy.
I reentered the world of a full time working mother. I'm trying to figure out that whole work, life, kid, spouse, friend balance thing. If anyone has that figured out I'd sure appreciate a tutorial. It's been an experience. I've learned a lot about myself. I've been blessed with some awesome friends. Friends that just accept me for me. They don't expect me to be perfect. They don't expect me to be normal, or always in a good mood. They don't expect my house to be clean when they come over (cause chances are it won't be, you are more likely to find dishes in the sink, dust on the rug and a pile of clothes I've been aiming to fold for 2 days). They just expect me to be myself. I've also learned that sometimes life takes us different directions and that's ok too. You can't force a friendship to continue on anymore that you can fit a square peg in a round hole. So sometimes you just have accept that it's better to just let go, breath and move on. Life may bring you together again but for now it's ok to just keep moving. Life's too short to be bitter and angry and resentful.
Our move brought us closer to our family. It's been great seeing them. We have the most wonderful childcare available....a devoted set of grandparents. They live about a mile and a half from us and they truly are a blessing. The girls "Poppy" as they call him comes over everyday. He worked out house into his daily walk. I guess he doesn't see them enough on the days I work. How awesome to be so loved right??? They love the kids, the kids love them and it's been great watching them all be together so much. My sister and older brother are about 10 minutes away and I'm close enough to my folks to see them very regularly. That's been great. We moved away about 9 years ago so we have been used to seeing them a couple times a year. It's been really wonderful seeing them so much more.
Anyway that's my ramblings on the last year. I'm sure I can add some more but I'll let it go for now. I guess the main lesson I've received over the last year is.....Change is good.
