So much has happened over the last few months that I am left with my head spinning. My career as a writer has been placed on hold as we wade through (literally) the changes in our lives.
Last year we became grandparents (welcome baby Finn, you fill our hearts with warm snugglies), we paid off our large luxury home (yay for debt free living!), then sat back and said, “Is this all there is?”
That’s when the adventure began—
maybe we are crazy, maybe we are ignorant fools—
We had a cushy, lovely, comfortable life in our overcrowded, fast-paced suburban town, and we were miserable. Discontent with the traffic and noise, of sirens blaring through the night (we hold our first responders in high honor, but do not enjoy the sounds of city life in the night), of crowded supermarkets, and 15 minute waits before risking life and limb to exit our neighborhood (one son already totaled his car making that dreaded left turn against traffic). It was time to get out.
So we did.
We began the hunt for the perfect location. I searched for land (at least 15 acres or more) anywhere in Texas (we have the luxury of working from home, so we are no longer bound to an area). It wasn’t long before I found a beautiful farm in East Texas, tall pine trees (trees are a must for this native Marylander), 15 acres of rolling terrain, an in-ground pool with outdoor kitchen, pasture land, a barn, green house, orchard, gardens…Need I go on. The place was immaculate, completely move-in-able.
One problem existed…we needed to sell our home before we could put in an offer. We had already remodeled the house in the prospect of selling, so we tidied up and put the house on the market. I said a prayer: “If the farm is for us, help it be available until we can put in an offer.”
The farm stayed on the market−I began to move in mentally. It was all going so well.
The first person who walked in the door put an offer on our house.
Wow! That was fast! We accepted, then told our realtor to put an offer on the farm.
Devastating! That is all I can say. The farm sold the day before we received our offer.
Now what? We had sold our home and had no place to go.
So the search resumed.
Was it by chance, or an act of Providence? We may never know. We stumbled upon a lavender farm bed and breakfast on more than 18 densely wooded acres. But this B&B was unique. It features two livable treehouses where guests can sleep and dine up in the trees. It was a lovely idea, but were we interested in running a Treehouse B&B? This adventure was not something we went out seeking. Yet the idea grew within us.
We made an appointment to see the farm on a cold February morning in the pouring rain. It was the worst possible time to walk the property. We donned mud boots, grabbed our umbrellas, and took a tour of the grounds.
And we fell in love. We put in an offer that very day.
And so, the adventure began, an adventure into country living, away from the dense populace, yet not quite so far that we are isolated from our fellow man. Hence the phrase, we have moved, not to ten-buck-two, but only to nine-buck-two.
There’s more to come…
~Susan
Susan Van Volkenburgh Books 