smiling while suspended

Written in August of 2016

For me, there are (minus) 6 days of summer left. I am back at work, with the magic of “summer vacation” 10 months in front of me.

But what a summer vacation 2016 brought me ~ brimming with life events: taking care of people I love, illness, death, a big move, an insane remodel and more.

But after all the hub-bub, the move is done, and our Wild Plum house fades into our shared memories. We are 100%, all-in, our Gambrel Cottage. Most projects are suspended midway, so we don’t have the new bathrooms done, no kitchen until mid-August, no closets in any of the bedrooms. Without any storage, we are living out of boxes and furniture arranging has taken on an odd shape. In the living room: all our living room furniture, all our theater room furniture + the dishwasher and cat tree 🙂

During the BIG move, we were smack dab in the middle of the heat wave and had no AC at our new “old” house. A big “thank you” to Ella’s dad, James, who was out of town and let my family come to his place to cool down, take showers and keep up with our laundry. It is amazing I grew up in a house with no AC, but it explains why in the summer, with every rain, my brother and I could be found dancing outside in the rain with mom. From 4 p.m. – 9 p.m. the heat was unbearable; and I will never take AC for granted again. We do have air now, and the old house adjusted right away. Whew!

And for all the exhaustion, living out of boxes, dust, constant cleaning, expense and general insanity ~ I am happy.

Happy when Ella asks me to walk downtown with her at 9:00 p.m. Happy when I am sitting on the front porch with my wonderful husband, who looks at me (me with sweat-matted hair, dirty clothes and no make-up) and says, “Wow, you are so beautiful”. :). Yes, I know how lucky I am!!

I am happy that I am with my family ~ wherever we are, we make home. And life is good (even when it is challenging).

Maybe next time I post, we will have at least one project done here at the cottage. For now I am sharing pics of some of my favorite parts of our new “old” home.