An Anniversary

May 1, 2011 – Vince’s official start date in Brownwood. He was still back and forth between the job here and the job in Nevada, MO for a month or so and I didn’t move here til mid-August. Five years he’s been here.

It’s been a fun ride. Looking back, I guess like everything  . . it seems like just yesterday and in other ways, it seems like we’ve lived here forever.

I had always told Vince that I would move anywhere in the south EXCEPT Texas. I’ll never forget that morning he called me. I was making the bed and the phone rang  . . which was early for our phone to ring. It was Vince telling me that a friend had called and suggested he apply for a job in Brownwood and he wanted to know what I thought about moving. That was in late January or early February. I said . . It’s TEXAS! Vince said something like “Good . . I knew you’d understand!” I hung up from talking to Vince and called Chad. He was graduating from college in May and I told him . . Vince is wanting to move to Texas and in my gut, I think it’s going to happen so you’d better be seriously thinking about your path after graduation.

You know the rest of this story! Looking back at how many houses we made offers on . . some we could never get offers accepted, some we got all the way to the point of inspections, only to have them all fall through. I think we had offers accepted on 5 or 6 houses and something always happened and now I believe it’s all because this is the place we needed to be. Three of the houses were in Comanche, which would have been quite a drive for Vince to make one day. In fact, one of them was a good ways past Comanche. At the last minute, we found the house at the lake to rent and that was not a great experience. This place, with the great garden spot and being way back off the road, is just perfect for us . . if we have to be in Texas!  🙂

Honestly, we were sitting outside tonight and I told Vince that I could be happy here forever, if I could just see Chad, Nicole and Addie more. His answer:  Skype!  Yes, that works for a couple of months but then I want real hugs and real kisses! I was thinking . . if you like Skype so much, I’ll get an apartment in MO and you and I can Skype! No matter where we end up, or how long we stay here, I’m not cut out to be a city dweller and I think living out here, we’ve both come to realize how important real freedom – from city ordinances, and neighborhood covenants, are for us.

Even as much as I miss Chad, Nicole and Addie, I’m truly happy with our place here and how we spend our days and nights.

There’s something digging holes in our front yard. I’m not sure if it’s an armadillo or a skunk or whatever but we set some trail cams out and yesterday I was looking at the pictures. Oh, my . . we will have to change our ways if we ever move to a neighborhood. Some of what I saw on those pictures was anywhere from comical to pathetic. We go out with dogs and let chickens out just about daylight . . and we are NOT dressed for public viewing.

I wonder what the next five years holds. Lots of changes – probably retirement, maybe a move. Hopefully, wherever we are, whatever we’re doing, we’ll still be loving life and having fun.