We are very close to hitting the one year anniversary of when we closed on this home, and then later in the month, when we moved in. Deciding to buy a home is a big decision under any circumstances, but deciding to relocate and purchase our first home in the midst of the pandemic was risky, maybe even a little crazy, and is just a dizzy blur now. We had been on the path headed in this direction since back in 2018, even before that, but we could have never imagined what our world would be like while we were actually going through the motions. I’m recalling now that we also voted in the presidential election during this same month — so much has happened since then, and before too. Really anything after March 2020 is masked in a fog or haze of some sort now. I always think when I sit down to write here each month that I’ll have time to discern and share some special truth to reflect on or some new lesson to learn, but in the end I’m usually tired and just focused on the present moment. The perspective that usually comes to me the easiest and quickest these days is just a deep sense of gratitude for all that has transpired and all the good fortune we have had. Second to that is sadness for all the struggles, illness, loss that so many have dealt with during these past two years. I guess if I had to sum it all up, the days seem to undulate between gratitude and grief — daily thanks for things/people/moments great and small; then waves of sadness and disbelief for all the people, memories, jobs, dreams lost. I don’t think I’m able to write an adequate monthly update about life on the homestead because life in general is just too dense — sometimes this is a blessing, when it’s overflowing with good news; but sometimes the brain is just too overloaded with all the stuff — and each of us knows what that is because we all have it. So now, as in the past, when I’m at a loss for words that might be insightful or interesting in any way, I just turn to photos to sum up where we are at now — most thankful to have lived nearly a year in this home, on this land, in this beautiful part of the world.
The Hearth Homestead 