Home is ….

I am now ready to write the next instalment of a story that began about 12 years ago while hiking in the woods with our daughter Renee. The recap: Renee shared the intention she and her husband Damien wanted to move to live near her Dad (Derryl) and I in our older years, to spend time together and help us as we aged. (The full story I’ve written here. ) As she and I walked under a canopy of trees, feeling alive with fresh air and exercise, this was a “wow, that’s awesome” moment: one I carefully tucked away for safe keeping: thinking its unfolding was way off yonder in the future.

Life happened for several years – and with Renee and Damien’s steadfast intention this wasn’t just a cool idea – they moved to the Sanctuary June 15/24. I am truly getting my head and heart wrapped around the wonderful reality of how this looks and feels.

Backing up. In early 2022 the “family-together-plan” gained momentum: planning how to make it happen. True to his style, Derryl the builder plunged into the planning for sub-dividing our existing property, and then building another house for us two ‘getting-older’ people. Fitting the project into an existing schedule of work projects, this house-build proceeded over a matter of time, a factor in our favour.

Before completion, the house-in-progress came in handy for visitors satisfied with make-shift window coverings, a comfortable bed and a working bathroom. A great practice run for future holiday and celebration gatherings.

Bit by bit, box by box, Derryl and I moved our belongings to the new house. SO much purging (a good thing), deciding what we really needed for a smaller space (a harder thing), we pecked away at it. April 14, 2024 Derryl and I “moved into our bedroom” (although more stuff had yet to be moved from the other place!) and installed the sign that has hung by our front door since our Alberta days.

We lived in the new house, a.k.a. slept and ate there, for three nights leading up to a short trip to attend a memorial service for Derryl’s Dad. These three days were long enough to discover that yes, the view from our bedroom was different from our previous one, and it was also a beautiful one! Thank you to Derryl for his strategic – brilliant – house-positioning.

On our return from the short trip away, walking through the front door into the new house the sense of THIS IS HOME was so palpable it surprised me.

And now the Tougas – Renee and Damien – are in their home. I love seeing how these two ‘creatives’ have made that space their’s – it’s beyond satisfying, when I look at their place and know by what they say, and how they’re settling into this location, they’re both happy here. In the past they’ve often stayed for short (sometimes longer) times with us on this property: now we have the comfort, pleasure, of knowing we can see them tomorrow, and the next day, and….that their three young adult kids – our grandkids – will be coming to see them and we’ll see them too!!

Some views of daily living across the yard from each other. Renee is creating order from the previous “rambunctious” chaos of the perennial sort-of-English garden alongside their deck. (i.e. my spontaneous planting over the last several years.)

Hoeing weeds in the “garden that has vegetables, raspberries and other stuff”, calls my name. It has, or is still, producing some greens, beans, cucumbers, garlic, a few onions, some herbs – and the odd raspberry off a patch that has potential. So thankful Renee is a researcher – my ‘go how you feel’ method isn’t reliable.

Shared appreciation for Monarch butterflies: their flitting about, watching caterpillars feeding on the milkweed, the excitement discovering the chrysalis below, tucked in the holly plant.

More things we love:

Absorbing nature’s beauty, working with technique and tools to share her experiences with others as seen through the lens has been Renee’s passion. Capturing the photo below from the vantage point of their deck, I say thank you, Renee and Damien for moving here. May there be many years of fun and activities together before the older people get really old! On that note: Damien didn’t get a lot of air time here. I know him well enough to understand that’s generally the way he likes it. But truth be told, I love our son-in-law: hearing him from over yonder faithfully practicing his guitar, his prompt answers and solutions for our (frequent) techie challenges, giving him a wave when we’ve happened to both be out walking along the river . And ever grateful for the time spent and things he’s taught me as a back-packer hiker.

June 20th – around the Sanctuary’s fire pit to enjoy the moon (and swat a few mosquitoes).

Family sharing in our everyday living … this is home.