It Feels Like Home

I am moving.  I have spent the last 7 years living at my parents' home while taking care of them.  Dad has moved into a nursing home and my mother has died, so we are selling the house.  The house across the street from my best friend was vacant, so I asked around in the neighborhood, found the owner, and now I am renting.

The house is an old farmhouse built in the 1920's on several acres off a dirt road in central Florida. It is a two bedroom, one bath house with a family room.   It has beautiful heart pine floors, but the rest of the house has been neglected for years.  The orange groves that surrounded the house were plowed under and burned last year, so the "back forty" is nothing but weeds that are 5 feet tall.  I have big dreams for this little house, but it will be hard work to get it where I want it.  I have dreams of gardens, orchards, livestock, dog runs and a new kitchen, but first I need to clean.

I was over at the house taking down the ancient vertical blinds that had never been cleaned and my friend from across the street walked over with her dog.  Shortly thereafter her 13 year old son showed up on his bike.  We sat around drinking tea in the back room listening to her son talk about a bee keeping class he had just attended.  It all felt very right.  After years of not having my own place, it was nice to have friends over in my own home.  My friend asked me if the place was starting to feel like home.  That is the funny thing, this house has felt like home since the first time I put my foot in the door.  Some places are just like that......home.