Life is a Journey
A Holiday Dinner at Fred & Rae's
The winds have literally been whipping over the plains and down to our Ozark Mountains in the past week, so I guess it’s appropriate that the figurative winds of change are also blowing on our mountain.
Expected changes are afoot, such as the light lingering longer before falling to shadows in the evening, but there are also some other changes in our little corner of the world.
Our neighbors put their house on the market a couple of months ago. When they told us beforehand, it was a quite unexpected move since they had been working on their Dream House for the past decade and expected to retire there.
They had looked for land for some time, as many do, after vacationing here and began building their home about ¾ of a mile down the road shortly after we finished construction on Our Little House.
Since we were all “weekenders” we had little interaction with them until we moved here nearly seven years ago.
The biggest thing we had in common was our hometown, we all moved here from Kansas City. It was good for us to have someone near us who understood the culture we had lived in all of our lives.
After we moved here, we enjoyed dinners at each other’s homes, including many holidays. I went down to let their dogs run when they wanted to take day trips, Rae taught me to can and we shopped in town together, particularly when my Baby Blazer was parked after my crash.
Rae also enjoys sushi and she was my first “sushi buddy” here. Dale and Fred fished together sometimes. It was on their boat on one 4th of July, coming back from watching the fireworks display over the water at the dam that I collided with a bat in the dark.
Dale worked on their vehicles, 4-wheeler and boat and Fred used his expertise in construction by assisting with our home repairs and finishing work on The Belle Writer’s Studio.
Of course, we had our ups and downs, as friends do, but they were good neighbors.
We were sorry to hear that they planned on selling their beautiful home and move closer to town. As they got older, they felt too isolated out here and frequent trips to their church, where they’re very active, was becoming a drain.
Downsizing a bit will also help Fred retire, as he still makes the commute to Kansas City to work several days a week.
Their move reminds us once again that life is a journey, not a destination. What we may have thought we wanted or did want 15 or even 10 years ago evolves and changes, even when we think we have achieved our dreams.
As we drove home from their house this weekend, perhaps for one of the last times, the sun was beginning to set behind the mountain. The memories of all of those evenings spent at their home came flooding back and I was touched with deep sadness.
But the light will continue to linger on this old friendship. Although not as convenient, we can help them make memories in their new home. And new occupants might bring us new friends and new memories in their old one.
Life is a journey, always changing and evolving with new opportunity.
Have you had neighbors turn into good friends? Was it sad when one of you moved?
I’ve missed your posts – none since January and hope that you’re both ok and nothing bad has happened. When we find “friends” on their blogs, we begin to enjoy spending time with them, learning about their life’s ups and downs, ins and outs, and we, can live through their blogs, the type of life lives we really can only dream about. Be well, be happy – but please let us know all is well.
Thank you so much, Patricia. I didn’t mean to take so long of a break from the blog. I will begin blogging again this week. I’m sorry you missed my posts, thanks for being such a loyal Living Larger!
I hope you are faring well during this winter. Here in central Missouri we have been having snow, ice and cold grey days. Today, freezing rain changing to rain. I can hear it hitting the windows now. But, tomorrow sun is forecast.
Look forward to reading your blog and how you are doing.
Hi, Mary,
Thanks so much for your note. I’ll be back to blogging this week!
You are so right that life is a journey and what works for you is always changing. I’m feeling the impermanence of things now strongly since my mother-in-law just passed away and my daughter is going to be moving out. We too are starting to reassess where we live and think about changes.
I hope your special friendship will endure even though your friends are moving on. We had neighbors who turned into close friends. Though we both moved, and it takes more effort to see one another, we still manage though not as often.
Always enjoy your stories. Sounds idyllic.
Change can be difficult and things don’t always work out as planned. We bought land in 2000 and had planned to build our dream house, but instead, when a house across the road came up for sale, we realized it would be much cheaper and easier to buy it than build our own. Our dream was altered, but we still ended up living just across from our land. We are where we want to be for now, but we often talk about the fact that as we get older, it will be more of a challenge to take care of 105 acres and a big house with yard. I don’t like to think of this dream we’re living, coming to an end. But such is life, and probably the time will come when we’ll need to downsize and move to a more senior friendly home. It’s important to be able to deal with change and to be flexible in how our dreams are realized. And of course, it’s important to not fixate too much on what might happen in the future, and instead enjoy the time we have here and now.