As my garden comes to life, we prepare to start our new one. There is no haiku today - I have big news to share instead! Enjoy the photos I've inserted of Nicole Harry's infamous H. 'Glamoureyez' - which is reblooming in Michigan right now...
I’m done wading along with the current, enjoying the scenery, splashing about fabulously, but not really MOVING FORWARD in any particular direction. There was a moment in January of this year where I found myself in the same conference room at work, looking at the same people, discussing and cussing issues we did in that very room seven years earlier. Not much had changed. Us or them. At that moment I realized it was going to take a big move to do big things. Current state holds with it certain boons that prevent growth in the direction that I envision for my family. This type of revelation comes with turning 40, I can only assume.
It's time to rip the band-aid off and tell everyone that we are leaving Michigan. On August 5, we are pulling out of Michigan and headed to southern Illinois – Worden, to be exact. Our new home is being built as I write this, on a piece of sunny, breezy, flat, fertile farmland that I have imagined for years (which is also four times the land-size I garden on now!) I hope you will come visit someday.
Oh, yes. What will come of my gardens and daylilies?
It will be a monumental and perfectly fabulous/masochistic task, but I will remove every perennial, container, succulent and rock that my heart desires from these gardens. No man left behind! At last calculation, that’s about 700 potted plants - 240 of them already potted and waiting for transport. The pots are arriving daily. And being filled daily. One 16-foot U-Haul has already carried a load to the new house. If you want to come and help dig, bring your gloves – I’ll have the lemonade and BBQ. And most definitely ice cold cocktails.
We will rent out our house here in Michigan and someone will enjoy what gardens I leave behind.
WHAT I LEAVE BEHIND. I’ve waited a long time to say that.
There is a certain sense of freedom that came with the decision to move out of this state, relocate back to Illinois near our families and start the rest of our lives.
Wow. Thirteen years we have been in Michigan. Ten in this house. Six with a son. All of them a wondrous, winding journey to today. We’ve always said Michigan was not our final stop. Seems most folks have a tour in Michigan these days. There’s someone in every crowd who “used to live in Michigan” and illustrates said location with a flat palm and a pointer finger somewhere on the hand-mitten. Yes, we’re really leaving and just saying it causes me to flinch a bit – but the time couldn’t be more NOW. Carter just finished kindergarten and he’s on to first grade in an amazing school district. Steve’s job allows for great flexibility in work location, and me, well, it will all work out somehow.
It always does.
There are souls I will miss here in Michigan, souls that have touched my heart and filled/focused my green spirit for gardening.
Words are sometimes hard to say and easier to write, and despite all evidence to the contrary, I really am an introvert. It feels good to let the cat out of the bag and breathe more deeply and authentically about the whole thing. So, if during the fall it takes me a bit longer to respond to your email, Facebook message or return your phone call, you know why. We’re starting our forever and I may be a bit distracted, but I'm still just a click away.
In the meantime, I'll relish my last July here in this summer-starved and fall-focused state – soaking up as much of it as I can before the last proverbial train leaves for back home in Illinois. CHOO! CHOO!
No day but today. Wish us luck.
2 comments:
Welcome home to southern IL. I grew up in Carlinville, about 30 miles north of Worden. I'm glad you are able to bring your garden plants with you. I would hate to move and leave our garden! Yikes!! I hope settling in goes smoothly! ~~Rhonda
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