More about that Dream

I noticed a few months ago that the blogs I read, the magazines on my nightstand, the books on my library request list, the shows that I like to watch all have one thing in common: HOME. I really, really crave stability and always have. Not a boring rut, mind you. Stability. To me, this means that I have a safe place from which to travel, work, stretch and grow. The one thing I desperately want for my family is to provide a place where we can always come home to safely regroup. This doesn't have to happen in Portland. No, it could happen anywhere I create it. I just liked Portland and it inspired to me to get back to dreaming about this.

There is nothing wrong with the life I have now. In fact, I rather like it. Maybe it's just perpetual school/training talking, but did you ever get the feeling that as much as you love the here and now there is a destination still to move towards?  This destination has been there in my mind since as long as I can remember but it's always been shapeless and vague. I know well enough that in order for it to happen my vision has to be clear and specific. So that's what I've been working on in my minds eye: the rich details. 

I know I'm asking a lot but Hey, I can dream...

• Summer will feel like summer. We'll get strawberries from the farmers market and make strawberry ice cream, make popcicles in tupperware forms, go swimming, play in the water hose, pick berries, canoe in a body of water, go to bed with light still in the sky and only a sheet over me, take a picnic, and go swimming to cool off. Then at the end of the season the air will be crisp, the shadows will grow long, and the trees will shed their leaves in time to make Halloween extra spooky.

• Winter will feel like winter. We'll walk through snow to get our Christmas tree and put lights on the outside of our house, build a snowman, go sledding, drink hot chocolate, make soup, put an extra quilt on the bed, and wear slippers, scarves, mittens. Then at the end of the season the sturdy leaves of the crocuses will push through the frozen dirt just in time for Easter.

• Our house will be big enough but not a McMansion. It has a fireplace, stairs, hardwood floors, central heat and air, a butter-yellow kitchen with east-facing windows, a bedroom painted Tiffany blue, a finished basement with a guest suite, and an awesome stereo system. 

• I want room to run, bike and swim... Without fear of being run over.

• I want to run into friends at the farmers market, yoga studio, the grocery, my kids classroom, the library. I want to have coffee with these friends every Tuesday morning after we walk our kids to school.

• My kids will grow up in a community where they can ride bikes on the sidewalk, draw with chalk in the driveway, have a lemonade stand, outdoor movies, be watched over by all of the parents, and have sleepovers in a tent in the backyard. 

•  My husband & I can walk to a dinner date. 

• I want to pull into my driveway. Where I will park my car. Then I will haul my stuff a short distance into the house. 

•  I want to have dinner with my family every night (except date nights).

• My kid(s) and I will curl up in bed to read picture books. 

•  I'll sew, crochet, bake, paint - and I want to to do these things with my kid(s) . My kid(s) will have a space specifically dedicated to creating art and crafty projects. And I want us to wear matching aprons.

• Some day I'll peek out the kitchen window to see my husband on the back lawn coaching our children in some sport. 

• In the backyard there is a vegetable garden in raised beds, a water feature, pea gravel path, hummingbird feeder, regular bird feeder, wind chimes, and maybe a pool.

•  In the front yard there are flowers like peonies and lilacs. Sometimes I will cut some to bring inside and put next to my bed. I want a large porch with a swing to drink iced tea on. Some day Tim & I will wave from the porch as Ada goes off to prom and clap our hands as she pulls into the drive with our grandchildren.

Oh, in my mind the picture is so beautiful.

On an entirely different note: Since I didn't get these up earlier here are a few pics of Ada in the pool with Tim the night before we left Oregon. The bikini is a birthday present from Auntie Diana ;-)