I've started to read a new book. It is called "The Girl Next Door." By Elizabeth Noble. In grade school children are asked to make connections to what is in a book to their life. I've made a connection so early in this book. One of the characters moved to an apartment in NYC from England. She has to move because of her husbands job. I've taken a section of this book and changed just a few parts so that it fits my life.
" She couldn't believe she was here. Everything had happened so fast. Six months ago there had been no hint of any of this. Six months ago she'd been looking out the back kitchen window at her garden, planning what she would plant
Once spring arrived. She'd loved that garden. And the house. Their first house. A three bedroom duplex near their favorite park. Fit their budget and allowed them to pay tithing on one income. It needed a ton of work when they bought it, though she didn't realize that. He did all the remodeling and made a place that they truly loved, all period correct with a country cottage feel. The garden had been the best part and the biggest revelation. (Perhaps because it had been just hers. She made it with no help from others.) She'd never taken the slightest notice of the seasons before. When she was young she watched her mother garden but never
wanted to get her hands dirty. When they moved into the house there was only one garden. She told her neighbors she didn't know anything about gardening. She surprised everyone by growing the biggest and prettiest flowers. Whatever she planted flourished. One garden grew into four. Now she was here, far away from her garden, far from everything familiar. In a small apartment....."I've only changed a few lines. I couldn't believe that a beginning story line could speak to me so quickly. I don't have any of my flower garden photo's on my laptop. In fact I'm running out of
Photo's on the lap top to share. Time to walk around with my camera attached to me. So you get photo's of my little duplex. I felt comfortable in this little house. The hardest thing the past few months has been listening to people tell me what they found wrong about my house. It was such a disaster when we bought it. My husband worked so hard on it. And yet people will still walk up and tell me this or that is wrong. My husbands friends were the worst. (not his church friends, his friends that he grew up with, his friends from before we were married.) They would tell me how things weren't as good as they
could have made them. Or that they told my husband he should have never bought this place. It hurt, it made me feel small and unimportant, not worthy. I hope(and think) they didn't realize how their words made me feel but it still hurts. I'm glad to be away from that. I feel for my husband as he is back there with them. They are still not being nice about the move. It's funny how everyone focuses on my husband in this move. Him not being able to say goodbye to everyone, him having to leave family and friends. No one really thought about me. I wonder why? Why did it seem to me as if no one thought it was hard for me? Perhaps they did and I just didn't realize it.
Anyways one thing I loved about my house was the natural light. All the light that came into the house. The house would stay warm because of all the sun light. I know that when I look for a new house I'll look for a house with lots of light. I already told the children that once we think we like a house I will want to be in it at different times of the day. I want to see the light at different times. Our little apartment has lots of windows and natural light. I love that. Someday I'll garden again. Being Sunday the kids and I spent 3 hours at church. While this may seem like a long time to most people, I could stay longer if they made it
so. I felt the spirit so much today. But I wanted to share from last week. I was asked to read a quote, it brought me to tears. God always answers my prayers on Sunday at church. Here is the quote: " We need to remember that a fundamental purpose of life is to be tested and stretched, and thus we must learn to grow from our challenges and be grateful for the lessons learned that we cannot gain in an easier way." I feel I've been so tested and stretched in the past few months. I would like a break. I'd like some time to breath, and rest. I'm not sure if I will get it. Yet moving as hard as it is, is not as hard as surviving a hurricane, coming out losing everything. I can't imagine that. We were lucky we were spared that. There was a bit more damage than we had thought to the stuff in the basement. But it really wasn't our precious things. I guess in all trials you learn what is important. My family is most important. I'm glad to have Internet in the house again. I'm going to start working on my family history this week. Can't wait to have my other computer set up with all my important files. Thanks for reading. I hope to find ways to share important things with you. I'm glad to have time to read again.
I didn't realize this photo was down here. So this is our very cleaned up ready to be moved out of master bedroom. My mother makes quilts. I have a ton of them. One of my hopes is that in our new house ( when we will get one) I will be able to display all these beautiful quilts from my mom. I also want my husband to have a garage. So he can go out and tinker on his projects. Hope those blessings come at some point. But for now I'm content to be in this little apartment.
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