Almost 5 years ago, my husband was itching to leave the area we live in. It is cold and depressing here in the winter and each winter he talked about moving. In this particular year, he wanted me to think about moving to Hawaii. At the moment I was in the midst of radiation treatment for cancer and the thought of moving was overwhelming. Also, I didn't want to live in Hawaii. Everything I knew was already close by.
After talking with him for a while, I realized that our conversation wasn't about moving to Hawaii, it was about dreaming. We needed to continue dreaming of what we saw in our future. So I did. Ignoring the concerns of a grown up, I dreamed of my dream home.
"The home isn't too big or too small. It is open, colorful and bright. It is full of useful and colorful things. Very few thing gather dust for the sake of gathering dust. There is plenty of storage for things we care about and no room for clutter or things we don't use.
"There is a lot of outdoor space. There is space to have a fire at night. There is a space for sitting and reading or visiting with friends. There is a lot of native vegetation coloring the scene. The view is something we could look at forever.
"On any typical day we are outside for 80% of it. On a typical day we don't hurry. We know most of the people we see and are willing to stop and have real conversations with them.
"Some family comes every couple of months. They rest and enjoy the land. They visit more now than ever before. I am healthy because I run regularly. I bike everywhere. We've adopted the local culture and traditions and are enjoying being part of something bigger than us."
I read this today. I wrote it in January 2013. We didn't move to Hawaii, but most of that dream has come true. The home we moved to this summer fits the description of the home in my dream. It is smaller than our old one and we've had more visitors since moving here. We aren't outside for 80% of the day, but we enjoy being outside more than we used to. We do enjoy and talk to our neighbors and we have a community that we consider family.
No matter how old we are we should dream. God knew my heart and gave me my dream. Hawaii seems amazing, but I couldn't leave the people that I have come to love here. I was still able to have my dream and stay here. My husband isn't itching to leave anymore either. We didn't have to move 3000 miles away, only 20 miles.
We are blessed and I am thankful that at 40, our dreams can still come true.
No comments:
Post a Comment