Ready for new adventures!

In my mind, this house was always temporary.

We moved here quickly and without many options, and I think somewhere in the back of my mind I always knew it was a container rather than a home. A place to hold the people and creatures I love while we figured out what came next. Josh, who hates moving with a passion I find both admirable and inconvenient, has been doing an excellent job of not figuring out what came next. He also loves his garage, which does not help.

But I am ready. I have been ready for a while now.

The state of the world is not making any of this easier. Uncertainty everywhere, costs that make your eyes water, interest rates on homes that feel like a personal affront. I spent some time waiting for things to settle down and then I asked myself a question I could not shake: what if they don't settle down? What if this is as good as it gets for a while? Life is genuinely short and I would like to spend mine somewhere with room for fruit trees, real privacy, wildlife that feels safe and welcomed, and mornings that do not begin with a leaf blower at seven thirty.

Our home is on the market. Josh and I have been looking.

In the four years we have lived here we have met so many creatures. We replaced as many invasive and non native plants as we could with natives, slowly turning the yard into something that gives back to the wildlife around it. The rabbits know us. The birds know us. There are individual animals on this property that I recognize and that I believe recognize me in return, and that is not nothing. That is actually quite a lot.

This is my only real concern about moving. Not the packing. Not the unpacking. Not the finding of a new place or the logistics of transporting a household that includes cats, a dog, parrots, a chicken, a gecko, shrimp, and more houseplants than I will admit to.

I worry about who comes after us.

Will the new owners leave the leaves? Will they resist the pressure to spray for ticks and mosquitoes, chemicals that do not discriminate and kill far more than their intended targets? Will they see the value in the habitat we built here, the native plantings, the brush piles, the quiet corners left intentionally wild? Will they be kind to the animals that have learned to trust this yard?

I wish I could leave a letter. Maybe I will.

My heart has always been this soft and I have made my peace with it. It is just how I was made. And it means that moving is not only a logistical exercise for me. It is also a small act of faith that the place we leave behind will be okay without us.

I hope it will be.

A very young wild cottontail that was just relaxing in the summertime evening. This made me laugh when I saw her. 

One of the many lightning bugs that call our backyard home resting on some native hyssop :)

Someone was upset about the lack of sunflower seeds in the camera feeder. 

An female monarch on a native aster flower. 

I really, really love watching their antenna move all around while they are munching!

A newly emerged cicada in our backyard. So magical!

A sweet squirrel just relaxing on our front deck.