Early Days

I'm so super grateful for having a home of our own. Intellectually I am incredibly grateful for my ability to have mortgaged a home, but physically and spiritually I am experiencing all kinds of other things. Mostly exhaustion. I never really appreciated how little islands of growth around random trees spread throughout a yard could require so much work in the way of weeding. And trimming. I'm fully, for the first time in my life, understanding why I always saw people outside their homes kneeling by their various shrubs. They were weeding the millionth weed of the week is my guess.

So yes, the weeds. The hedges. The basement. (Yes, it still has a funny smell. Costea has now torn down most of the walls and ceilings and we are on our way to cleaning and sealing). The insects! I have to continuously ask myself whether it's OK to kill them. On the one hand, it's no. But on the other...I mean, once they cross over the line of being in my home... I mean just last night I turned on the light in our bedroom to find a nickel-size spider making its way hurriedly across our white bed sheets. Um nope. Sorry. Here I go creating karma. Slam. Dead. Sigh.

But even so, we're inviting people over. So many people I want to host! The house is nowhere near where I'm even comfortable having people over. We haven't bought a piece of furniture. But I know if I wait, I won't get to shower my loved ones with love, attention and hospitality they've shown me over the years. Here are a few snaps of some of our early days. We can also consider these part of the before album :)

Pre weeding and trimming workouts

Running through the porch

Dusk playtime

Watchful mamas

My beloved niece

Boys helping in the kitchen=always welcome!

Our friends across the street  

Everyone loves the baby doll sheep

The naked window that needs dressing (she's so embarrassed!). And unhung art, random plugs...


XOm

A Picture Says 1,000 Words

And while true, I'll still add some words of my own. I have hit a major milestone in my life, in our life I should say: home ownership (well, mortgage ownership...). As a person who has skirted major commitments until her 30's, and then so dragging her feet into it, buying a home was emotionally, spiritually, and mentally challenging. And of course a blessing too. Costea and I have had as smooth a transition into American life as one could expect. Returning home from the Peace Corps is tough. Moving to a new country for life? Super tough. Returning home, quite unexpectedly close to where I grew up, it was so nice to be close enough to see old friends from time to time. Making new ones, not so easy. We're in that funny age where most people we know have children and so we're that childless couple that can do anything whenever, but don't have friends that can do that with us.

Then there was apartment living. I know many, many (most?) people in this world live in apartments. But I didn't grow up that way, and neither did Costea. In fact, his entire life he had a large garden, raised his family's own animals, grapevines, fruits...you name it. That's a LOT of work, so when you move into an apartment with no outdoor access, you can imagine the shock to the system. At first it seems like a luxury to not have so many "chores". But soon, the restlessness kicks in. So for two years, we made it through watching too much TV and having perpetual "cabin fever". 

And so here we are now. Our little house in the woods. (LOVED that book in 2nd grade!) It's got strange basement smells, more bugs and creepy crawlers than I care for, bathrooms with pink and green tile, and kitchen cabinets that scream, "I love the eighties"! But it's ours. We have so much work to do, it can seem overwhelming. But isn't that life? We can often see the bigger picture, the vision, but it's all of the little steps in between that get us anywhere.

We have many, many steps ahead. We have a place to channel our energy. We can create. And for this, we are grateful. There are so many reasons we loved this little house in the woods. Some of those reasons are easily apparent, and some only exist now in our minds, awaiting to be brought to life by inspired hearts and hands. 

I have ideas for posting about our journey in fixing up our little house in the woods and all of the life lessons that process will teach us. I'll be very happy to be writing again. 

Om tat sat.