A year ago today...

A year ago today we arrived in New Hampshire. Our movers moved 221 boxes and three trucks worth (two 24' and one 16' packed to the gills.) The enormous risk we took by uprooting our home of 15 years and moving to a part of the country that neither Dan nor I had any experience with has turned into a wonderful adventure and a big blessing in our lives. While we didn't know a soul here, and were a little fearful of the winters (turned out our first winter here was the second snowiest on record, the wettest year on record and we just survived what they are calling the "ice storm of the century"; so I think we have earned our winter stripes!) we knew that if we didn't make the move at that point, then we never would. I can't explain it, I just felt we were supposed to live here. If more than two days go by that Dan and/or I don't 'silly slap' each other's arm and say "Look where we live," I would be surprised. We are both constantly amazed by the beauty here. We feel like we are living on vacation.
I was born a Texan, raised a Texan and will always be a Texan, but it was just time for us to leave. There isn't much that we miss about Dallas. That said, I do miss two things. Mexican food and Michel. Oh my, how I miss Mexican food- that's all I can say on the subject, or I might start to cry! I also miss my friend Michel more than words can say (and that usually does make me cry!) She and her husband moved in across the street from us eleven days after we did. Over the years she became my dear friend and confidant. It would be impossible (and perhaps wrong!) to know how many bottles of wine/Veuve we went through over the years while solving the world's, and our own, problems! I miss my friend Michel every single day, and Ella misses her Auntie M.

Two of my favorite stories from the past year give you an idea of the spirit of the people and the part of New England that we now call home. Keep in mind New Hampshire is a very small state and we have only one television station for the whole state! (And yes, we have all the b.a.d. things happening here as the rest of the country, but they're fewer and lesser and definitely not the nightly body count that we moved from.) Last Spring during a broadcast of the 11 o'clock news there was a story about a found dog. They said it was obvious that the dog had just had puppies, but the puppies were not found with her, so the news station was asking if any one knew the whereabouts of the puppies to please contact them. The dog was found about 2 hours North of us, but again, since we only have one channel the whole state heard the call to arms to find the puppies of the found dog! That the story of some missing puppies made the nightly news warms my heart.

Then there is the story of our first trip to Maine to go antiquing. Do not be fooled, Maine has some fabulous antiques! We were in a wonderful shop and I found a pair of vintage concrete birds that I knighted my birthday present (makes life easier for Dan!) The shop didn't take cards and we had forgotten to refill the checks. The owner said (now mind you he had never laid eyes on us before) "Go ahead and take them, and just mail me a check!" This was several hundred dollars worth of merchandise and he was letting us walk out the door and trusted us to send payment? Sometimes we feel we have landed in Oz!

Life is a little slower and simpler here and that has brought us great joy. We have found that the slower pace is more to our natural cadence and fits us much better than the buzz of the city. Today I am very grateful that we took a chance, trusted our gut and followed our heart to our very own land of Oz.

Fall and Winter view of the river we drive by everyday.