Dreams Do Come True

I have never had a dream about where or how I wanted to live. Often living on a lake or stream is appealing, but I've pretty much made do wherever I've lived and usually found good things at every location. Our first home was in Sturtevant, WI a suburb of Racine. Our home was a starter home and had great neighbors and a good place for young children to grow.

Our second home was what our family refers to as the Globe Heights home. It was a beautiful three bedroom home on a residential lot in a nice neighborhood. The home was large, had a nice family room with fireplace and the basement was huge and allowed me to have a work shop for the first time.

We moved to Sheboygan Falls and a large split-level home that eventually got tedious constantly going up and down stair to get from one level to the next. However the real charm was the neighborhood and the opportunity for our children to participate in school events and form close bonds that remain to this day twenty plus years after we lived in that home.

Divorce broke up the string and to some degree I started over again. I was an apartment/rent home dweller for a few years as the marriage broke up and I moved to the South to follow a dream that never materialized in the form I had hoped and planned on at the time.

Finally twenty-two years ago I bought a little log cabin on five acres of land in Arkansas. About nine years later I bought an additional five acres adjacent to our property with a home that we rent out. The property has matured, the field is now a young forest as the trees take back the land. The adjacent property is a mature woodlot with a variety of land form to explore and gives me a feeling of being back in the north-woods at times.

I have never made a list of desires when it comes to a home. However I always found the lifestyle of my first father-in-law appealing where he had property to care for, could work out of doors in an area that was quite large and he could do what he wanted. I also found a rustic life style very appealing where you grow food you eat, and provide some for yourself. I found the log cabin appealing but became unhappy with the one I own because it fell into disrepair through my own neglect. I like living in a small town, while it may not offer great conveniences or restaurants it is good enough.

In the previous post I talked about the evening my wife Terry and I had sitting by our new fire pit enjoying an open fire and the cool evening air. Looking around at the tall pines on our property, the log cabin that has been renovated, the fruit and nut orchard we've accidentally developed and the garden holding blueberry bushes and raspberry canes I realized if what I have desired is a dream then I've realized that dream. I don't have a lake nearby, nor does a stream go through our property. I do have ten acres to enjoy, woods to walk in, a path to enjoy a seasonal variety of plants and trees, a garden to provides us with some fruit and vegetables and a work shop I can go to anytime I wish. So sitting by the fire last night with the woman I've come to love dearly, looking over the tall pines, the large yard, the renovated log cabin, the orchard and gardens filled with flowers and other plants I realized that dreams do come true.