Finding a Home for the Heart

I am full of mixed feelings.  When we first moved from Philadelphia to Kentucky I was grieving.  I missed the house we had lived in for sixteen years.  The first time we drove back to our old neighborhood I cried.  My home was no longer my home.

Our new house was nice enough but it wasn't the same.  I found fault with everything that was different from the house I had loved.  The strange thing is… after nearly ten years I now love this house.  I am finding it hard to let it go.  I have transformed it into what feels like home to me.  Now I am preparing to do the same thing with the new condo in Philadelphia.

My mother once told me that I am highly attuned to my surroundings, and I guess that's true.  I put down roots, deep roots.  I become attached to things that most people hardly notice.  Now that we are preparing to move, I realize I will miss certain everyday things, the post office just down the road, the family farm that has a corn maze every year, even certain trees that I find beautiful.

This is our house on our street:

This is part of the back yard.  I love the trees and the rose bushes and the bench in a sunny spot.

Flowers and lights on the deck:

My favorite reading spot:

My husband has his "man cave" downstairs, where he reads, watches golf and football.  I join him there sometimes to watch a favorite show.  This is the basement we had finished, and i added curtains, quilts and pictures to warm it up a little.

A shadow on the bedroom wall on a sunny morning.  I notice every little thing.

Anyway, you probably get the idea.  I get attached to things and places and people.  Changing to a new environment isn't easy for me.  It's not just the house either.  I have come to appreciate the area where we live… Boone County, Kentucky.

When we first moved here I felt adrift.  I missed the city, the commuter train, my job, and so many friends.  I wrote in my old blog about how much I missed those things.  I described myself as "a blue girl in a red state" because I realized I was fairly liberal in a place that tends to be conservative.  But over time I have submitted to the charms of this part of the country.

I was fascinated by the "road to nowhere" just down the road from our street.  I liked seeing the bales of hay rolled up out in the fields.  There is a quiet, simple peace around here.

There is very little "hassle factor" here.  There is seldom a long line at the post office or the bank.  The DMV is friendly and easy to deal with.  Even the Social Security office is organized and not too fretful.  Things do work here.  I have had good experience getting things done; we have our favorite repairmen and plumbers.  Last winter when a pipe froze and broke and we had a leak in the basement, a pair of plumbers spent four hours repairing it and charged only $80 total.

The area is colorful and interesting too.  We are close to several unique places that are fun to visit.  Perhaps the most well known is Rabbit Hash, KY.  It's a tiny "hamlet" on the Ohio River.  Weekends are busy there, with bikers, bluegrass music, barn dances and BBQ on picnic benches.

It's a short drive from our house, along quiet country roads.

We love making this drive on sunny weekends, in a top-down convertible.

A short drive in the other direction finds us at Jane's Saddlebag.

It's a farm, restaurant, museum, wine festival, bluegrass music venue, and is adjacent to a marina on the Ohio River.  A great place to take the family on the weekend.

So you see, I have found many good things here, just as I did in Philadelphia.  I wish I could meld the two places together so I could have it all at once.  We have a lot to look forward to in our new home but I won't forget our time here.  It's all good!