Reflections

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  1. Robin Ann

    My parents moved from upstate NY to Mass when I was in 4th grade. We lived 20 miles outside of Boston. I am happily living in southern RI now 5 miles from the coast for 24 years close to Narragansett Bay as well. I inherited my love of the Ocean from my Mom. Her favorite spot was Cape Cod where she spent her honeymoon, retired and now rests. I am blessed to live where I am to be near the ocean, close to the airport/train transportation, Providence, CT, Newport, Cape Cod and the Islands as well as Boston and & my place of employment. To be honest I am living in a stay-vacation destination and love it.

    11 months ago
  2. luv-1-nutter

    Grateful for this question for every day, Ithankful that I live in God’s country, in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by the 170,000 acres of redwood Smith River national Forest.
    The community population is around 500+ and my partners ancestors were the early pioneer settlers mining placer, plank road therefore many neighbors or family past and present are surrounding us, my partner and her 34 year old son.
    There is an elementary school and home school, but no middle or high School, so those have to be bused to Del Norte High. They’re mostly retired, yet some are younger families… It’s said, that everybody knows the milestones of everybody living here. But, it might not be to cool for the younger children thus being so far away from the amenities which city life offers. Iwe have the best of both worlds here in the country. It is said unless you live by a river you have no friend.
    I’m glad so many of us live in places like that.

    11 months ago
  3. L
    Lizcwv

    My home sits back in the woods and offers all the magical wonders of nature- peace, hope, new beginnings, endings, wildlife, solitude and joy. Plus, I have 5 grandchildren within 2 miles. A true blessing.

    11 months ago
  4. Dolores Kazanjian

    I am fascinated how many of the posts indicate that the move wasn’t entirely voluntary, but where the person is right now is the perfect place for him/her to be.
    I came to the suburbs (of NYC) kicking and screaming a lot of years ago. It was purely financial – I lost my business and the City had become so gentrified that we could no longer afford it. Recently we have been looking at whether we want to move back to the City – it is, in many ways, a much better place to grow old and my heart is still there. But I realize that I love having a backyard (now filled with lilacs), an herb garden, a preserve and trail only a block away. And, best of all, we are right near the water. Long Island sound is only two blocks away. Sometimes the Holy Spirit knows what’s best for us.

    11 months ago
  5. Carol

    In 2019 I moved to be closer to my son due to health reasons. He asked me to make the move so he could look after me if needed. I left many friends and a warmer climate but I am so blessed to be here and am enjoying the chance to spend more quality time with my son. I also get to see my sisters more often.

    11 months ago
  6. Charlie T

    I love where I’m living. It’s quite, safe,
    and beautiful. I’ve found myself here
    through happenstance. In a way, I’ve
    come here by things NOT going right.
    I’m grateful to be here every day.

    11 months ago
  7. Pilgrim

    I am grateful to live a mile down the road from Lake Michigan. My family moved here from the “Detroit area” a couple of years ago. The difficult part is the great friends I now almost never see. But I have vacationed here for years, and have wanted to live here for a long time. My family has lived near some kind water my whole life. It is as if it is essential to my/our being. My two daughters and their families also now live nearby … my younger daughter just moved “across the pond” to Wisconsin from the Pacific Northwest. Family is the central blessing in my life, and I am so grateful.

    11 months ago
  8. Barb C

    I love reading everyone’s descriptions of where you live and why you love it, or why it works for you at this stage in your lives. Thank you all for sharing!
    My husband and I moved in fall of 2020, leaving Seattle for Olympia, WA. We had moved from Spokane to Seattle for a career move for me, and while I appreciated many things we had access to in a big city, we both wanted to be in a smaller town where it would be easier to form connections with neighbors and where it would be quieter. I could live anywhere in the state and do my work, fortunately, and we decided it was time to downsize and plan ahead so we’d be in the home we’ll stay in when we retire. When we started househunting we found a neighborhood we really liked and put in an offer on a cute little house but got beaten out; after looking at many more, a second house in the same neighborhood came up for sale, we jumped on it, and this time were successful.
    We’re in a great neighborhood with its own small loop road where we go out and “do a couple of laps” for breaks throughout the day. Many of our neighbors do the same and we say hi and admire their dogs. It’s a bike ride of about 10 minutes to the home of a good friend; we visit each other often and in the summer we go on bike rides looking for yard sales. We’re close to a large park with some of the original forest so we can go walk on forest paths 10 minutes from our front door. We walk down to Budd Bay, which is part of Puget Sound, and see the occasional seal swimming by, blue herons fishing, our “Canadian visitors” (geese), buffleheads, mallards, other birds–spotted a kingfisher once. On Saturdays we walk to the farmers’ market, buy food grown here, and go somewhere else as part of our date, which may consist of coffee by the bay or a stop at the bookstore or the consignment outdoor gear store. The downtown has great restaurants and only locally owned businesses–no Starbucks! Which is kind of amazing when you think about it. Olympia has been investing in its bike infrastructure for a while; we both ride and we have bike lanes and trails almost everywhere we’d want to go. We’re improving our yard, which was pretty hopelessly packed with false dandelion and burdock and very neglected, and now have raised beds and I’ve gotten ahead of the dandelions with my Grandpa’s Weed Puller (a miracle tool if ever there was one). I’ve put in trees that will someday produce food if I can beat the squirrels to the goodies. We continue to improve the house and yard to make them ours; our next projects will be solar panels and a kitchen remodel. At night we listen to the quiet and say to each other how lucky we are.

    11 months ago
    1. A
      Ana Maria

      Thank you for sharing! Yesterday I discovered your blog sita and I am truly enjoying your writings. I thank you for adding to my daily routine of good reading! What a lovely place to live!!

      11 months ago
  9. Nannette

    My husband and I live in Central,WV. I am from New York State and he is from Ct. He moved to WV when he was in college and never left. We met “on-line” over 20 years ago and then I came to live in the wonderful place he called “home”. We live on a bit over 100 acres…here in WV that means we actually have about 5 acres of space to live on…The rest is hills and forest areas. We share our space with deer, coyotes, rabbits, turkeys, fox, racoons, oppossum, and woo dchucks to name a few as well as many species of birds. We are stewarts of our land..here for as long as we are able. We have alovely house, built from trees that my husband cut down and sawed. It is a quiet place- our neighbors are “down the road”…We are 40 minutes or so from where we buy groceries, etc. I am living the dream as some people say….I love the rural life, the countryside and all that means. We live in a hollow – surrounded by hills and trees. The sun comes over the hill later in the morning…but when it does everything is lit up. I miss the island of Nantucket where I lived for several years and I miss the country life of New York State…but this is my home now and will be until we are no longer able to care for it….and I am so very grateful for this time to live here.

    11 months ago
    1. Robin Ann

      Nannette, Your home sounds so peaceful and love that your husband built it himself!! I also share your love for Nantucket, I have been there 2x and fell in love.

      11 months ago
  10. Yram

    A year and a half ago we moved to a senior community in SE WI. A requirement was to be in nature. Sometimes I have to deal with trade offs. Our structure is a perfect for us. The blessing is we have a clear view of the evening sunsets and several parks close by.

    11 months ago
    1. Dolores Kazanjian

      Yes, we often have to make trade-offs. We did – see my post. But we make the best of it and appreciate what we have.

      11 months ago
  11. D
    Don

    We are blessed with rain and sunshine. Gardens and farm fields are always green. The wooded areas are filled with tall trees. There is an abundance of plants everywhere. With that comes the seasonal migrations and wildlife. When I take time to be still and just watch all of the activity around me I am astonished and realize that what’s consuming my time and energy is ‘the small stuff’.

    11 months ago
  12. L
    Linda Herman

    I love where I live. We just moved here last July. It is quiet and peaceful and people are lovely. My job is wonderful. But my daughter is very very sad that I am here and not near her. My son lives not far from where I live. She says that I ruined our relationship. I am so so sad. I am clueless about what to do. I pray and ask for guidance. Just love her so much and am so sad.

    11 months ago
    1. Nannette

      Prayers that your daughter will understand that you love her- where you live has nothing at all to do with your love for your child. Praying for peace for you and your daughter.

      11 months ago
    2. Yram

      That is a tough one for sure. I pray for both of your hearts.

      11 months ago
  13. sunnypatti

    Where I live with my husband and our dog is a beautiful 2 acre piece of old farmland. We found this amazing property a few months before CoVid, so I consider part of the blessing being that we got a fair deal on it as well as the home we put on it. While in Charleston County, we live half an hour south of the City, and it’s still considered “country” out here, which I love. We have a pond on our property and it’s lined with the tallest pine trees. There’s a beautiful farm behind us that you can’t see from the road, and I love walking the greenway back there speaking to all of the horses and goats and cows. We have the blessing of living in the country, but are also a short 20 minutes from Edisto Beach, a laid-back beach so different from the ones I grew up going to in Charleston. I love the quietude of where we are. I never expected that I’d end up living in the country, but I’m grateful life brought us out here to the former Cabbage Capital of the world!

    11 months ago
  14. Joseph McCann

    Our home and place are by the southwestern edge of the San Luis Valley, in south central Colorado. New Mexico is 20 or so miles south as the crow flies. It is a high mountain valley at 7500 to 7900 feet in elevation. Surrounded by the Sangre de Cristo, Crestone Needles and San Juan Mountain ranges with 13,000 to 14,000 feet peaks. The Continental Divide is to the west in the San Juans. Our small forage farm is bisected by the Alamosa River. The valley and surrounding mountains make up the head waters of the Rio Grande River or as known in Mexico, El Rio Bravo Del Norte, This is still a rural place with agriculture the largest economic driver. I moved here from the Redwoods of Northern California a bit over 44 years ago. I married a good woman, and we raised two children and now have two grandchildren. The weather can be harsh but the lack of significant population and natural beauty more than compensate. I am truly grateful and blessed to have arrived here and live here.

    11 months ago
  15. Laura

    I have a dwelling in which to live that is warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and it has indoor plumbing. I don’t have to go outside or walk any distance to fetch clean water. The scenery and landscape where I live is not particularly dramatic or visually arresting — no snow-capped mountains or powerful oceans — but I find beauty in the mature trees and suburban “wildlife.”

    11 months ago
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