Home Sweet Home....

There are those who are lucky enough to have a place of their own to call home. They manage to purchase the "House of Their Dreams" or maybe a Condominium, a Townhouse or even a Mobil Home. Perhaps they decided that was the perfect place to set roots and they found a way to do it. I've been there several times in my life, I owned homes and Condos and Townhouses but they kept on changing as my life was doing the same.

The last house I owned was supposed to be IT. It's the only one I got attached to emotionally, the one where I raised my kids, where I saw their first steps and watched them grow. Where we celebrated many of their birthdays and cared for a lot of pets who became part of the family too. This was the only house I owned where I decided to plant my own garden and learned to care for it.

We had various types of apple trees, plumbs, bananas, mangoes, guayabas, figs, pomegranates, peaches, apricots, nectarines, cucumbers, berries, melons, watermelons, oranges, lemons, avocados, tomatoes, onions, carrots, cilantro, basil, parsley, chili peppers, beans, grapes, etc. and lets not get started with all the flowers and many types of trees, cactus and evergreens.


I always dreamt of having a stream or any small body of water running next to my house, there was this trench that the previous owner dug so that if and when it rained it wouldn't get flooded, which is not a common occurrence in Southern California, so I had the plan of putting some pipes and filling it with water so as to have my own home made stream but that never to happened. We did build a pool with a waterfall and a little pond so that counted as my body of water.

Another dream I've always had is having what I refer to as a lover's swing, a swing built for two. I did get one as a Mother's Day gift, I remember how much joy I felt when I received it, I had wanted it for so long I was savoring every moment of it, but what I don't remember is using it much for the purpose it was intended, I would often sit on it and swing all by myself and think. My husband was too busy with work and my kids with their lives, their toys, their school, their games, their friends.

The house had a tennis court that doubled as a basketball court, a pool, a trampoline, a Guest Cottage that we finished building and decorating with our own hands and the help of a construction worker. Every corner of that little guest cottage was created with so much love, I thought of our parents when they got old, or our children when they went off to college and came back to visit and hopefully stay for a while. I thought of our grandchildren, how much they were going to love visiting Nana and Poppo. It had it's own kitchen and bathroom and it looked like a suite at the best hotels, not to mention it was in the backyard and all you had to do was step out to be surrounded by everything you could need for entertainment and serenity. I even gave it it's own address 5289. Both my ex-husband and I were born in 1952 and our two children were born in 1989 so it was the most important numbers to me, they represented My Family!


The only dream I never got to fulfill there was having a Tree House. It was going to be where I went up to at first with my children to read them stories, sing songs, do picnics and later on with my grandchildren. We got it started, but we never go to finish it. So that is still in my "Bucket List".

I swore I would never sell that house, I wanted my kids to have a place to call home that brought them all the memories of the wonderful childhood they experienced there, I always wanted to have that as a child and never did so I promised myself I would give that to my children, but that dream was shattered into millions of pieces, just like the windshield of a car after it's been hit head on by a trailer whose lights were blinding me and I was unable to avoid it.

That was 10 years ago, I don't remember how many places I've rented since then, going around the world looking for that dream, the house with the yard and the plants, the room for my guests so that our children and grandchildren have a place to call home whenever they want to come visit or just move in. The stream, the swing, the scents of home cooked meals, the music, children's laughter, the sounds of family and the Tree House so that Nana, the "Born Storyteller" can tell her grandchildren all of those stories that come from a life well lived, a life filled with Passion, Hopes and Dreams and all the memories we'll create together as a Family!

In the meantime we rent here, we rent there, oh the stories I could tell you, we leave them behind to blow with the wind, the same wind that takes us to the next place, until we can finally find the one to call "Home Sweet Home"...

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

Reflexiones de mi mente...

 4:30 am, me siento cansada pero mi mente se siente con energía, tengo que esforzarme como nunca lo hice antes, de lo contrario siempre será "Día de la Marmota". Sé que puedo despertar y ver cambiar al día siguiente!

Estaba pensando esta madrugada a las 3:00 mientras conducía por esas maravillosas calles del centro de Seattle y la mayoría de la ciudad aún está dormida. ¿Alguna vez has manejado a esas horas? Casi toda la ciudad es tuya, la compartes con algunas personas que también van a trabajar y no nos olvidemos de aquellas personas que viven en las calles.

Hablábamos de eso en nuestro camino al trabajo de mi marido, "En los Estados Unidos de América, no hay ninguna razón por la qué alguien debería estar viviendo en las calles", dijo mi esposo con firme convicción. Y eso nos llevó de regreso  a nuestros humildes comienzos en éste país como recién casados, en el otoño de nuestras vidas y empezando desde cero otra vez. Un reto sin duda, hemos tenido que asumir roles que nunca habíamos tenido y otros que sí pero los odiaba; de lo contrario, sencillamente no podíamos habernos quedado y mucho menos crecido.

Han pasado tres largos años que llegamos como pareja, sabíamos que queríamos quedarnos a vivir aquí para construir una vida, algo que ofrecer a nuestros hijos, nietos, a promover una unidad familiar que nuestras acciones en el pasado contribuyeron a romper.

En tres años, hemos tenido incontables experiencias, vivído en varios lugares. Desde alquilar una habitación en la casa de una señora de la limpieza que ni conocíamos; vivía en un edificio de renta baja dentro de una comunidad de nivel más alto.

Recuerdo llegar a ese departamento el día que nos casamos, 25 de junio de 2013, nunca olvidaré ese día. Abrimos la puerta del apartamento, la habitación que rentabamos tenía una cama doble pegada contra la pared para que cupiera, mi marido mide 1m.98cm. y yo ODIO dormir junto a una pared, soy un espíritu libre y necesito sentir esa misma sensación de libertad cuando me voy a acostar para descansar cada noche después de un buen y largo día de trabajo. 

Después de allí pasamos por otros pequeños apartamentos, uno que era un cuarto de hotel, no tenía ni cocina, solo un pequeño micro-ondas y un lavabo que funcionaba como lavamanos también porque no había uno en el baño, pero nunca volvimos a compartir un techo con nadie y llegamos a donde estamos hoy, un precioso estudio en la 7ª planta de un lindo edificio. El apartamento da a un hermoso parque con vistas del Lago Washington y Monte Rainier. Podemos ver el amanecer y el atardecer, la salida de la luna que brilla por nuestra ventana al final del día cuando nos abrazamos.

Mi esposo atravieza la calle para tomar el tren que en 15 mins. lo deja en el centro de Seattle y camina 3 cuadras para llegar a su trabajo, yo conduzco a lo largo de todo el Lago Washington en nuestro nuevo auto, escuchando mi música favorita para llegar a mi trabajo. Han pasado solo tres años.

Reflexionando…