A New Year

A year ago today, we went to go look at a house in the country on a whim. This would turn out to be one of the most terrible experiences Andy or I had ever experienced, but it lead us to where we needed to be. (If you're interested, she's still listing it on craigslist!)

I'm no Dickens fan, but this past year has epitomized the whole "best of times, worst of times" dichotomy.

On one hand, we sold a house for a profit, found our dream home, my best friends have gotten married, I've gotten to travel a bit, my garden and our new flock of poultry are doing well, and I got a new, stable position at work.

On the other hand, we discovered how untrustworthy people can be (while losing money in the process), were without our own home for a couple of months, work has been on thin ice at times for both of us, we dealt with some dog medical/emotional emergencies, health problems for those we love, and perennial money problems.

One of my favorite things about teaching is the ability to press a reset button after every new semester and school year--I have an internal calendar that lets me know come May, it's time to turn new leaves for September.

This year, July 5 has been added on to my internal calendar. I fully expect that we will be dealt numerous difficult hands in our time on earth, but I'm looking forward to this next year being one of stability, where we can grow what we've planted and keep building for the future. Just a year and a day ago, we thought moving to the country was a couple of years away. We didn't know how to drywall, lay flooring, paint well, do tile work, build a chicken coop, or raise chickens. We'd never cleaned off a dog who swam in our lagoon, laid awake with a maimed pet, dealt with a mice invasion, asked neighbors to bale our pasture, or administered antibiotics to an ailing chicken. Now we do, and we have.

I'd always heard that the first year of marriage was the hardest, but I didn't find that to be true at all. The first year of living in the country? There you go. I'm finding out new and wonderful facets of my husband every day, but we're both having to grow accustomed to the work load and one another's expectations for this life we've carved. Like all things, we'll figure it out.

I'm pressing the reset button on this blog and my life today.

And perhaps, next July 5, there will be goats.



I think anyone who reads this is on facebook, but in case you aren't, here are a couple of photo albums of what's been going on:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=160537&id=504008552&l=bad241e00c
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=156705&id=504008552&l=d62715bb8c