West Leigh
Glimmer
Flickr! It's been so long. I've been so absent, online and in photography unfortunately. I have reasons though!
The last year has required a lot of me, physically and emotionally. It's difficult to explain the dominos of it all, but in a brief summary, my beloved grandparents passed away last year, both at nearly 97 years old, I was close to them. When I was three they built a house on the lot of property next to my parents' house, making us a little family on over 8 acres in the woods. I grew up with them living next door, which had a significant and wonderful impact in my life.
My parents inherited their house after they passed. Which left my parents' house vacant. It's an old house, full of...character, I'll say. :) It's the house I grew up in. Basically, it's old and outdated, but I saw potential in giving it life once again. My parents also graciously offered us another vacant lot, to build on if we decide in the future.
So...ultimately me and Nick decided we wanted to move to the woods. It has meant significant downsizing and downgrading on our home, but has opened our lives up to so much more freedom and a heavy dose of nature, which I so desperately crave. It has meant giving things up, living in limbo, large amounts of physical labor, and jumping right into the unknown. It's been scary, exciting, and exhausting.
At this point though, about a year since the idea was conceived, we are days away from closing on the sale of our house. We have settled into our temporary home (until we build), but still have renovation projects to work on. I've built trails to run on the property, and spend time daily outside in the beautiful forest. I feel confident we uprooted our life for the right reasons, and love the direction we are headed.
I'm feeling ready for this chapter to close, and the next to begin. One that opens our life back up to even more travel and photos...with hopefully a lot less painting!
I feel like we've been following a glimmer of light on the horizon. It would have been easier to ignore it and go to sleep in the approaching night. But that glimmer held hope, ideas, and opportunity, however unknown. I'm feeling so thankful we kept chasing that horizon.
Glimmer
Flickr! It's been so long. I've been so absent, online and in photography unfortunately. I have reasons though!
The last year has required a lot of me, physically and emotionally. It's difficult to explain the dominos of it all, but in a brief summary, my beloved grandparents passed away last year, both at nearly 97 years old, I was close to them. When I was three they built a house on the lot of property next to my parents' house, making us a little family on over 8 acres in the woods. I grew up with them living next door, which had a significant and wonderful impact in my life.
My parents inherited their house after they passed. Which left my parents' house vacant. It's an old house, full of...character, I'll say. :) It's the house I grew up in. Basically, it's old and outdated, but I saw potential in giving it life once again. My parents also graciously offered us another vacant lot, to build on if we decide in the future.
So...ultimately me and Nick decided we wanted to move to the woods. It has meant significant downsizing and downgrading on our home, but has opened our lives up to so much more freedom and a heavy dose of nature, which I so desperately crave. It has meant giving things up, living in limbo, large amounts of physical labor, and jumping right into the unknown. It's been scary, exciting, and exhausting.
At this point though, about a year since the idea was conceived, we are days away from closing on the sale of our house. We have settled into our temporary home (until we build), but still have renovation projects to work on. I've built trails to run on the property, and spend time daily outside in the beautiful forest. I feel confident we uprooted our life for the right reasons, and love the direction we are headed.
I'm feeling ready for this chapter to close, and the next to begin. One that opens our life back up to even more travel and photos...with hopefully a lot less painting!
I feel like we've been following a glimmer of light on the horizon. It would have been easier to ignore it and go to sleep in the approaching night. But that glimmer held hope, ideas, and opportunity, however unknown. I'm feeling so thankful we kept chasing that horizon.