It's interesting to me, anyway.
The forest is becoming fuzzy and green around the museum, and things are popping into bloom everywhere: yellow forsythia, pink, red and purple redbuds, almond and pear trees, and now the dogwoods are beginning to bloom. I noticed blossoms on the lilacs in my backyard, as well.
It all makes me want to run out and dig in the dirt. But there are three things stopping me:
1) It's raining, and
2) I'm in a different seasonal zone here and am not supposed to plant anything serious until May and
3) I'm buying a house.
3 is somewhat in doubt. Lets say rather that I have a contract on a house. This house, in fact:
I doesn't look all that romantic in this picture, and is badly in need of some landscaping. Okay, a LOT of landscaping. But it's a very nice house, with all the modern amenities, located in Centerton, which is just a couple of miles down the road from where I'm living now. It has laminate floors and lots of windows in the back, a big fenced yard that's reasonably level, where our pool could go this summer, and lots of opportunities for gardening and animal husbandry.
I have a signed contract on the house, and am working with lenders who seem willing to take a chance on a cash-strapped single mom. We'll see.
Choosing a home has been a study in contradictions. I'm torn between choosing for myself or for Grayson. My own preference would be to move out to the woods in Bella Vista, to a house on a hillside surrounded by forest. Grayson wants... needs, really... a community of other kids, a sense of security and a place to ride his bike, hang out and play. Grayson is drawn to suburban subdivisions like this one, with semi-identical tract homes all lined up along a street with sidewalks and curbs. Tidy lawns and driveways. I can tell how much he enjoys that in our current rental house. He wants a house much like his friends' houses, and nearby.
There are benefits to suburban living. Here we'll be serviced by city sewers, rather than septic systems, and gas, whereas homes in Bella Vista are either all electric (expensive when you're talking about heat), or require big propane tanks. What this home lacks in landscape (and I admit it's lacking), it makes up for somewhat with its level yard which will allow for our pool this summer, a trampoline, and plenty of light and space for gardening. It will take several years to see the full fruits of my landscaping labors, but I'll have the satisfaction of having built it all myself. Finally, Centerton is closer to Grayson's school, scout troop, and to the Museum, and won't require us to risk life and limb on narrow curvy roads in icy weather.
It's also something I could buy NOW, while rates and prices are low, in an area that will allow Grayson to remain in the same middle school and junior high as his new friends. That was paramount, and a move now to Bella Vista would have required him to change schools, which I've promised him he wouldn't have to do. At this stage of my life and his, frankly his happiness and his needs outweigh mine.
I'm reminded of a friend I had in junior high school: Jenifer. Jenifer's parents were genuine granola-munching, commune-living hippies. But when they had kids they decided they wanted a more traditional and "normal" upbringing for them, so they bought a tract home in the same neighborhood as mine, got jobs as professors at the University, and spend 18 years or so living the American Dream for the sake of their kids. As soon as Jenifer and her brother moved out, her parents sold everything and moved into a nudist commune in upstate New York or somewhere. Having gotten their kids safely launched, they went back to their roots.
Perhaps there will be time later in my life for me to buy my dream home, at the end of a lonely track and nestled in the woods. For now I'm sure I can be perfectly happy tending my garden in this big sunny back yard.
