Embracing the Layers of Life

When I moved into my humble abode nearly two years ago thank goodness I didn’t have the time to pay attention to the closest people around me. They thought me MAD.

I bought a home - by myself. What a manageable task I thought! After all I had just gone through an unexpected departure by my husband of nearly 25 years….his choice. THIS was just a house. It had no emotion; it couldn’t disappoint; it provided shelter; it smelled on occasion; it still looked quite handsome on the outside after 200 years and furthermore it was built on a stone foundation.

It was love at first sight. Upon first glance at this shell, I trampled around the property looking at it wondering, thinking, gazing at the enormous Sycamore tree that towered the back yard. I looked over at a nearby three-car garage with the old stone under hang area that housed the horses back in the day. Too bad that garage is so close to the house I thought. I meandered over to the garage and realized it was part of the same property.

I RAN back to the house literally like a mad woman through weeds, tall grass, ivy galore, overgrown bushes and found myself inside. Greeting me was a sight. It was amazing. “This is my house,” I remember saying to myself. “This is mine.”

My place had been sitting for three long years with no attention. The ivy was growing in the kitchen through the windows and the high school crowd had been using it as a hangout. The pipes had burst throughout the home revealing the knob and tube wiring dangling from the ceiling. Of course I saw these things. There would be numerous nights I’d fall asleep with tears running down my cheeks wondering what I had gotten myself into but I was so tired to host self pity parties. I HAD to focus on the task at hand. My first housewarming package to myself was a plunger and toilet paper. There was no heat, air, locks on the doors and forget finding the paths to the back and side doors. There were layers of growth hiding any movement of life.

I share this experience with you not because it is unique but because it is the beginning of a long journey. A journey that is still revealing itself in layers. I now have heat, TWO toilets and a working kitchen. There are numerous tasks still yet to accomplish but the one that is most profound is knowing that finding this place was the first layer of my new life. So many other layers that provided joy and happiness were soon to follow …along with more tears of course.

The following spring I took a walk outside the path that leads from the house to the garage and noticed hundreds of daffodils, crocuses and later tulips. It was then the second layer revealed itself. Someone knew I would eventually be walking this path.