Turbulence
31 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
“Emotional turbulence” is the best term that I have came up with to describe how we have all been feeling these past few weeks. Major stresses, followed by extreme highs and lows. Not manic depressive symptoms that last for a couple weeks on end, but turbulent highs and lows. For example, one minute we could be overjoyed that we purchased our flights for our house hunting trip, and then the following minute finding out that our dream home was taken off the market. Or how about our extreme excitement about being closer to our family and dear friends, yet having to face the reality of saying good-bye to some really incredible folks. Emotional turbulence and I do not get along very well. So much so, that ridiculous stress-induced migraines have snuck their way back into my life. Now, when this happens, it does not just affect me. It definitely affects my family, as well as anyone else who has the misfortune to communicate with me at the time.
My husband of 10 years, knows this well, and insisted that I try to de-stress at a spa in town with a massage. I figured, “Why stop there?” So I booked in for a much needed facial as well. Now I have to be honest here, and the first 30 minutes or so of my massage my mind was racing. So much to do, so little time…and then…I turned off my brain and sunk deeper into that massage table. I felt the chaos, and to-do lists melt away. Afterwards, I felt ready and able to face the daunting tasks with rose colored glasses. Everything was going to be ok. Actually, it was going to be more than ok. It’s going to be great. One thing is for certain though, no matter how perfect we may think our ‘forever home’ will be, there are some things about our rural retreat that can never be duplicated.
From our upstairs windows, we can look to the West and see the beautiful, rolling green Devon hills majestically adorned with the Belvidere tower on the Powderham Castle estate. On particularly beautiful evenings, when the sky is bright pink with the setting sun, and the tower is illuminated just perfectly from my son’s bedroom window, he and I sit together on his window seat and stare. Just stare, and think that there may never be another place so magical to us. This is also the window that ran up to after I heard gunshots and I saw Lord Devon and his beaters pheasant hunting. Hunting clothes here do not look like the camouflage clothes I am used to seeing.
From another window, we can look out at the calm water of the tidal River Exe and watch the sailboats peacefully glide by. Being able to tell if the tide is in or out from the comfort of our own home is probably something we will never have again. We can see the villages of Exton, Topsham, and Lympstone from our home, and if we take a short walk outside, we can even see Exmouth which graces the shores of the English Channel.
From yet another window, we can gaze in wonderment at the nearly 800 year-old church across the road. We have seen weddings and funerals come and go from the premises, and every Sunday morning we are greeted with the traditional Church of England bells. It has been such a special place to spend two years.
This cottage has provided us with entertainment when the field adjoining our property is filled with mating sheep, and then months later, precious baby lambs. It has provided us with curiosity with the ghost stories that we have been told about the property, as well as the few of our own.
The cottage has also provided enough frustration to last a lifetime. Feeding a family of four with a dormitory sized, under the counter, refrigerator has been dreadful. Not being able to eat our evening meal as a family at our dining room table in the conservatory 4 months out of the year because it is too cold out there is a bit of a nuisance as well. The one that really gets me though, is that we just found out, after nearly two years of living here, that there was a second phone jack allowing us to have crystal clear phone calls. We have deliberately avoided our home phone like the plague, and now, I cannot get enough of it. If you are bored, call me.
Turbulence. It is going to be a chaotic couple of months before we repatriate, filled with mixed emotions for all of us. We are currently ticking items of ‘must sees’ off of our England bucket list, and are going to continue to enjoy our time here. After that, it will be FOREVER in our next home. In our lucky #7 since we have been married (only 10.5 years!!) home. Our realtor has repeatedly talked to us about ‘resale,’ and I have informed him that ‘resale’ is not an issue. I am never moving again, and our children will sell this next home when we die… at least, that’s the plan right now.
