Mountain Dreams 2

Two weeks ago we closed on the little house we loved and thought was lost. After a few weeks, the owner had “a change of heart,” a phrase I love to consider, and invited us to resubmit our last offer. They took it and sixteen days later we got the keys! It is more exciting than anything I can remember in the last couple of decades. The house is tender and sweet. It has been gently loved by the couple who designed, built it and loved it for three decades. When I walk through the door, I am totally at home even though most things there belonged to them. She left the soap in the dish, clean rags in the hamper, dishes and linens in the cupboard and the deck chairs they sat on for 30 years.

I have been unable to sleep more than a few hours each night. It's like the movie Groundhog Day. Every morning I wake with the same first thought, "We got the house! It's ours. Oh, my!" and then it is like being eight years old on Christmas morning, so exciting with so many possibilities of changes, good times with friends, special occasions with family fill my mind that I cannot help but begin my day with enthusiasm.

One of the most special parts of this has been how happy my friends are for us, for me. It has been surprising how important their joy has been to me. It reminds me of when I experienced great sorrow and they held it with me, waited with me through the grief and loss, tears and wrenching pain in my soul. Now, just as faithfully, they call asking what's the latest and listening happily, it seems, to my recounts of flooring and room colors and dishes. They hold and share the space and time of this experience with me. They honor how this has come to pass, not just for me but also through our parents and their lives, our raising of our sons, our being at the last pass of our careers, and beginning a time just before retirement. They are truly joy-filled and delighted. I am moved by their happy emotion for us and also am aware of how important it is to me. I am overwhelmed with this gift of a house made possible by inheritance and also by being chosen by the buyers. It is all such an enormous blessing and grace-filled gift too large to accept alone. My friends’ delight gives me permission to rest in the joy of this time, to accept that something so good has happened for us, and to acknowledge once again the truth that our relationships matter more than anything else, even a dream house.