Recently, my Mom read an article that asked, “What advice would you give on your dying bed?” After she spent a few days thinking about it, she decided that her advice would be, “to have patience; with your spouse, parents, children, while driving, when waiting in line at the grocery store, etc.” On Monday, after a long and frustrating day, my mom advised me, “to have patience.”
I celebrated my 31st birthday last Friday. I arrived at work and enjoyed a beautiful confetti cake (seriously, one of the prettiest cakes I have ever eaten) and a few singing co-workers. My friend, Jody gave me a gift bag full of gardening goodies that reminded me that spring is almost here (if only mother nature would get the message), and my husband sent me a beautiful Easter Lily and birthday balloon. For lunch, I met my Mom, who greeted me with a vase full of my favorite flower, tulips, and I enjoyed the typical grilled cheese and side salad. The sun shined for the entire day and by the early evening, I was out for dinner and drinks with my husband and a fantastic group of friends. It was the perfect way to spend my birthday!
But, by the end of my birthday / Easter weekend, I was feeling old(er), grumpy, and impatient at the age of 31.
My husband, Troy and I plan to build a house on our recently purchased (in a friendly agreement with the bank), seven-acre, wooded lot. We purchased the property with the hopes to repay our loan within five years before we started the building process. It’s been 11 months since we started making payments and I’m beginning to feel as though building a house is a very distant thought, or even a dream. I find myself thinking about buying a reasonable starter home instead and often scope out the local real estate market. I haven’t seen an ‘I gotta have it’ house until Easter Sunday. On our way home from Easter lunch, we passed the cutest hobby farm for sale just outside of town and a few miles from my parents house. Troy had spotted it a few days prior and after a closer look, we were enamored by its charm!
I would LOVE to own this adorable house and can easily imagine myself living there. The 1930’s old charm, flower gardens, rich hardwood floors, beautiful white trim and windows, and as a bonus, there is even a chicken coop! I found myself obsessing over it and longing to get the approval (from ANYONE) that making this type of purchase would be okay for the interim. I looked at the pictures a hundred times and shared the link with my normal council… and then I looked at the pictures another hundred times! I thought about updating the kitchen, replacing the deck, and decorating it to make it my own.
By the end of that day, I found myself reviewing interest rates and breaking out the calculator. All the while, I had that little voice in my head telling me that buying a house would only set us back from reaching our ultimate goal; to build (in reality, I think that voice was yelling, ‘hey wacko…what the hell are you thinking?!’). As I began to listen to my inner smarts, I grew angry when I thought about bills, student loans, rent, and all the projects that will need to happen before we build. The more I confronted the fact that this house would NOT be mine, the more enraged I became. After a few hours of inner contention, I ridiculously began to think that the world had been unfair to me. Only me. In reality, I had become impatient.
Having patience is not one of my stellar qualities, but I do know that when I want something, I am a whole helluva lot persistent. Hopefully, that positive stuff follows…I am confident that someday we will look back and be pleased with our decision to build. In the meantime, as we make our way to building that dreamy house in the woods, I plan to share all of our doings with you!
After reading a note from my mom, I knew she was right. “…your land will be the perfect place for a beautiful house…just be patient. It will happen, all in good time. Love, Mom.”
Backwoods Maple 