Friday, October 7, 2011

The Basic Facts Of The Rest of Your Life

By Alfred Tanya


It is time. Your career has run its course, your young children have flown the nest and for the past couple of years you have been thinking about what exactly is to come.

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Possibly it is Florida for you with uncomplicated winters, boats and shuffleboard. Possibly it is a townhouse inside the city with coffee shops about the corner, theater and opera on a whim. Maybe you will settle as close as you'll be able to to the grand children.

Inside the late 1970's, contemplating retirement right after 30 years inside the navy, my mom and dad, stationed in the Washington Navy Yard began taking lengthy weekends, investigating those parts of the country that looked promising. My mom had been a navy wife following my dad from port to port, moving thirteen times with 5 youngsters. It had been a hectic life, glamorous at times, absolutely full of adventure but never ever had there been a house. She had never ever noticed a tree grow.

Her dream was a spot inside the country exactly where she could have a horse. My dad wanted absolutely nothing additional than to assist make her dream come accurate.

They looked in New England and felt the winters could be too cold. They looked in South Carolina and felt a bit too northern for the south. They looked here and there, taking lengthy weekend trips till they planned a brief two hour drive towards the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and discovered Madison County. I was in my 20's in California and my mom began sending me pictures of lovely farms which had old farm houses in have to have of renovation. Most had been totally out of reach financially, (more than $150,000) but I could tell the excitement was developing. 1 day I got a call telling me that they had bought the old Graves house spot in near Rochelle. It had an old brick farm residence on 22 acres using a massive red barn along with a pond full of bass and bluegill. They would call it St. Clair, a loved ones name.

Last week I was visiting my Dad. Two of my sisters had been there. As we sat inside the living room of this elegant house that has been in our household for much more than 30 years now, we began going by way of the scrap books.

You can find my mom and dad, wonderfully fit with barely a hint of gray, posing having a pitchfork, beaming. The prior to and soon after photos are striking as they turned "this old house" into their wonderful household. There's my sister's wedding album, and mine using the major white tent set up next to the home. You'll find the grandkids floating on noodles within the pool, now in their 20's and 30's with children of their own. There is certainly my mom on Henry, her great Morgan horse that she loved for 20 years and rode all more than the hills and mountains of Madison County.

You will discover Gus, Muppet, Tess, Joe and Meg, all of the lucky dogs that lived pleased, full lives at St. Clair.

My mom passed away from a sudden stroke this past January. She and my dad had been married 60 years, 30 within the Navy and 30 on the farm exactly where they spent the rest of their lives. St. Clair was a magnet that brought my 4 sisters and me to Virginia just about every summer for our reunions and ultimately to live close adequate for an simple pay a visit to, fifteen minutes for me. Thirteen grandchildren will have life time memories of summers at St. Clair and every of us knows that this charming small spot inside the country answered perfectly for a happily ever right after for Mom and Dad.




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