The seventh anniversary of our closing on the sale of our dream house will be in a few days and it has gotten me thinking about what has transpired in the meantime. Suffice it to say that the journey from there to here has been a dream come true for us on many levels, not the least of which is that we get to live year-round here in New England rather than visiting from a southern state of it. Let me explain.
Linda and I built our so-called forever home in the antique capital of Florida, a quaint lakeside town called Mount Dora, which for years had a sign at the entrance to town that read: Welcome to the New England of the South! It reflected the town’s unique (for Florida) New England-type architecture more than anything else, but also nautical-themed features like its inland lighthouse and yacht club.
What is more, we customized our Cape Cod-style cottage with such atypical (for Florida) amenities as hardwood floors and a wood-burning fireplace and decorated our cozy home with nautical accents like ships and lighthouses. Do you detect a theme here? And for years we subscribed to Colonial Homes magazine and eagerly awaited the latest issues of Yankee and Down East magazines at our local library.
And you know what is amazing? We now live across the street from the headquarters of Down East, which just happens to be the official magazine for the state of Maine. So, it appears our coastal journey has come full circle, and it has been a blessed one at that. But it almost didn’t happen. You see, I got “cold feet” thinking about the weather-related changes we’d face (being southern-born-and-bred) and the prospect of uprooting Linda from her corporate job.
Fortunately, I came to my senses just in time and we moved here during what proved to be an unseasonably mild winter. And we have since both adjusted nicely to our four-season climate here. It reminds me of a powerful quote attributed to George Addair that I recently discovered: “Everything you have ever dreamed of is on the other side of fear.” And Proverbs 13:12 states: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
Sweet dreams are made of heart desires come true. As Maine’s own Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once said: “My soul is full of longings for the secrets of the sea and the heart of the great ocean.” I now have trouble imagining what our lives would be like without living here. It is indeed a dream come true, and one made possible by us lightening the load of our lives, including the emotional baggage that beckoned us to play it safe. So, what is your dream?