Happiness: The Blue House

Make no mistake about it - our house ("The Blue House") has made us pretty darn happy for the past 4 years.

I had a bloggy friend comment that at first she was very confused about why we'd be moving into town. And then I thought, heck, why wouldn't she be! We do nothing but gush about our little slice of heaven here in the country (except for in the winter!) so why the heck would we be leaving it? So I thought maybe I should really, thoroughly explain.

Steve and I moved up here in 2005, hot on the tails of a dream that we've both had for many many years - to live in the country, and start our own little empire if you will. We were going to live here forever, growing as we needed to suit us and our family. Aside from a teeny apartment in Toronto that we shared (which wasn't really "ours," it was mine and Steve moved in) the Blue House is the only home we've ever known together. We got married here right in our living room, we brought Dudley home here, and just a few months later we brought Griffin to join us. This is the only home Griffin has ever known. He learned to crawl on these floors, and walk on them later. This home holds a gazillion billion happy memories for us, and we will miss it when we go.

However, I slowly started to realize that living in the country was only part of my dream. The real dream was more about more living SIMPLY, and I began to realize that that didn't necessarily mean in the country. I also realized, after failed attempts at a few careers, that my true desire was to be at home with my children, and be a full time mother to them for as many years as I possibly could.

There were challenges too out here - the seemingly simplest things that have proved challenging for me - for example - in the middle of the winter, when your husband is away and you need to spend 40 minutes plowing out the drive just to get the car out to go to the grocery store for milk, what the heck do you do with the infant of the manor, or soon to be one infant and one toddler?? (As you well know, a toddler can get himself into a whole BUNCH of trouble in 40 unsupervised minutes!)

So this move into town, its a big step towards achieving that "new" dream. We are going to be lowering our monthly payments by a good chunk, so I can hopefully stay home. We can go back to WALKING places, and maybe even maybe go back to being a one car family. Our children can walk to school - it's just on the other side of the back yard. I can still grow my garden, let my children run free in the yard, and lead a simple life - with much less stuff in way less space.

I used to think that memories were tied tightly to a specific place, but that's not necessarily true. We will take the memories of the Blue House with us when we go - they travel with US, the people that made them. And together, as our little family grows, we'll make even more of them in our new home.

And every time I think of the Blue House, and what we have accomplished here, I will smile.