Waiting for Quiet

The view from the upstairs balcony

Oh, how I want to live somewhere quiet! While I don't mind the sound of kids playing, I could definitely do without the sounds of teenagers trying to be cool and swearing like little punks. And the traffic noise. And the dueling music blasting from every other apartment. It would be lovely to live in community with the people around us, but most of time trying to talk to neighbors hasn't worked out. I don't know if it's personality, cultural, or what. It doesn't help that we're pretty shy people. Everyone has smiles for our outgoing Dan's cheery hellos and Adam's chubby, gummy grins, but as grown ups we've had no luck.

I'm so excited to live somewhere we can leave the windows open at night and still hear each other talk & have the boys stay asleep. Well, I say stay asleep, but they don't really do that period. Sometimes they sleep, but I think they might be faking it to make me feel better. I want the quiet to sink into our bones, but I know that the only real quiet can happen anywhere, when we rest in the Lord and his promises. Promises of love, hope, and mercy. I don't need to be in the country for that, but it does seem like more time to think, in audible quiet, with a bit of enforced media silence may help.

We're making inches of progress with Querencia. We have a signed purchase agreement, and a disclosure saying that we live in a very high fire danger area. Very. High. So that's cool. There are sprinklers on the roof, but two tall trees that don't look good for fire safety, as beautiful as they are. Jake is making ridiculous plans to build a dugout fire shelter to stay on the property in case of a wildfire, complete with oxygen and water pump/nozzle something-or-others. We'll see how that plays out, because if I'm uncomfortable with him riding his motorcycle please believe I'm not going to be okay with him staying during a fire. We also found out that we have to pay an extra $150/yr to the fire department to protect our house, so that's kind of weird. I mean, I get it, but it's not something I've heard of before.

Even though we don't know if we have the property yet, we're going full steam planning how we're going to remodel. There are short term plans, like paint and flooring and curtains, and long term plans like building a 15'x15' deck with hot tub, farm table, and trellises with vines for shade. It's lovely to dream about, but I'm hesitant to plan too much before we know for sure. I'm completely in love with that weird, beat-up dream home of ours. I'm going to be crazy sad if it doesn't happen. Fingers crossed, dreams dreamed, prayers prayed. Still waiting.


Do you have a dream for your home, present or future? Do you get excited by paint chips and flooring samples? Leave me a comment with your ideas, dreams, favorite paint colors, or whatever.