Having travelled many countries and having lived in Sydney Aus for almost 6 years I returned to Ireland to join my then boyfriend Frank who had lived away from Ireland for many years but was now back in our home town of Buttevant, a small town in North Cork. Frank and I had found each other - again- whole other blog !!!
I moved back to Ireland in August 2007, I was 29 years old and had spent years travelling alone- whilst I had met the most wonderful amazing people who became family to me - I was alone in the sense of not having immediate family surrounding me, I come from a loving supportive family who even though we speak our minds and will call it as it is in a heartbeat, we always have each others backs and all my siblings had settled within close proximity to my parents who still lived in the same home as we all grew up in, seperating myself from the family to a country so far away that it was impossible to get home on a regular basis or when a crisis would happen I was forced to make decisions for myself and whilst I had always seen myself as independent its only when you are seperated by continents do you learn the true meaning of independence.
So I moved home, literally home, back home to my parents house, and yes I loved my indepedence but it was great to once again be taken care of, my clothes were washed, my dinners cooked, my every need and whim taken care of, it was great but it was not long before I started craving my own space away from home again and if we didn't get our own place soon Frank and I would end up broke from staying at hotels every weekend :-)
So we started looking at houses, we both had rented for so long we thought it was time to buy a place. I saw a house that I thought was beautiful but Frank said no, he said it was too much money and he was not prepared to go into debt for such an amount for the sake of having a nice house.
Frank is the easiest going, most agreeable person I know so when he says no he means no, so I dont argue (most of the time). Then we heard that a house near my sisters was going up for sale, its in the heart of the countryside surrounded by fields and trees. There are only 5 houses in the immediate area and all are on completely seperate pieces of land I can only see 2 of them from the house and one of those 2 is my sister and her family. The view is simply breathtaking, the house is small and not well finished but it has character, the moment we stepped inside it we felt it was right, it felt like we were home so we put in an offer and after some weeks of negotiating we sealed the deal and bought our house. We had secured a mortgage much to our surprise to be honest - again another blog - and in we moved.
We are now in the house for four years and we have done so much but still so much to do, we need to landscape, we need a new roof and the list goes on and on and at times I get so worked up because I wish it was finished I wish at times when I drive in the gate that the outside did not look like someone had passed through and thrashed the place.
I get so frustrated but then I stop and think that as we re-design, re-create and re-model our house it is taking our personalities into its very structure, it is mirroring our thoughts, our dreams and our aspirations so whilst it is not picture perfect and although it has cracks and faults it is our home, its where our memories are being made, its where we share our joys, our passions, our hurt , our disappointments as well as our dreams. And I thank God that Frank did not pander to my desire for the house I saw which was picture perfect, it was landscaped and finished but we would now be in for twice the mortgage payment we currently paying and I will take the cracks any day over the stress of being in a home where you are struggling to pay the mortgage where a home very quickly becomes a house, which pressures your relationship stresses your mind and makes life a struggle.
This house is our home and I love it, its bricks and mortar that are full of our energy, we came into the house as singles but within these walls we have evolved our relationship not just with ourselves but with each other.
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