Dream Big 2007

Most of you know that I got married when I was 17 and was the mom to four little girls by the time I was 22 years old.
Living in Michigan in the winter was not fun for me. I felt "stuck inside" for years for many reasons:
We lived in the country and would get "snowed in."
We didn't have extra money to go places and do things.
Bundling up four kids everytime we went somewhere was a lot of work.
Too many gray skies that blended in with the earth.
I could go on but I'm sure you get the picture!

One long-dreary-gray-winter-day I heard on the radio that the sun shines 364 of the year in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I couldn't believe it! I went home and announced to my husband that we were moving there someday. Maybe when the kids got out of high school. By then surely we'd would be free to go.

We kept that dream in the back of our minds for years. I even began talking about it and telling others. It was in "the middle of our winters" that I would talk about it the most.

Well of course we didn't go when the girls were out of high school. Looking back I think I said that because I needed to convince myself that I could make it through all of the ups and downs of parenting if "I had a big sunny dream!"

Then when the twins were both in college, Kristy at the University of Chicago and Kara at DePaul I finally saw a chance to step forward with a plan...

Kara was depressed and was struggling to get through her first semester of college.
Her plan was to drop out. Of course the only thing I could think of that would lift her out of her depression was sunshine and sunny blue skies.

I talked her into looking into New Mexico State University and transferring. She did! I'll never forget the day my daughter Niki and I flew to visit her right after she settled in. We were sitting on the lawn they were mowing in mid-January. I felt like I was sitting on top of the world(or at least on top of my dream)!

The next day we rented a car and the three of us drove all night to Santa Fe. I believe it was a 12 hour trip. My plan was to capture the spirit of the area in order to strengthen my vision when I returned home.

When we arrived it was like standing underneath a blue inverted bowl. In every direction was clear blue sky! The mountains were breathtaking, the stucco homes that jutted out of the mountains were stunning.

I remember breathing it all in, owning it and saying, "This Is For Me! Over the years I visited Kara several times. When she moved back to MI after graduation I continued to visit the South West I went to see the Georgia O'Keefe museum when it opened. I went for any reason I could think of.

At the same time Kara moved back, her twin Kristy landed her first teaching job in Phoenix, Arizona. Again I continued to hold my vision of "some day" and visited the Southwest often.

We never gave up on our dream (my husband Roger adopted it as his dream as well from day one). Buy things shifted. Now it wasn't New Mexico we wanted to live but Arizona. We decided as long as we had kids there it would be silly to move somewhere else.

Now we were empty nesters and we could have moved but didn't. The problem being our oldest daughter was giving birth to our grandchildren and they were too cute and irresitable to leave. At this time some of our friends would tease us and say, "Sure your going to move...

After a few years Kristy decided to leave the teaching field and Arizona and move to Atlana Georgia after breaking up with her boyfriend.

Kara who had been back in MI struggling with what to do with her life after graduating from NM State decided to move to Arizona and teach at the school her twin sister was leaving behind. In fact, Kara moved into the same apartment Kristy was leaving. Twins are like that you know!

Kara loved her new home, her job and fell in love with the guy she would eventually marry. When we went for her engagement party the building boom in the South West was in full swing.

The weekend of the engagement party we took a risk, purchased a lot and had a home built in Queen Creek. Our plan was to get "renters" until we were ready to move.
I'm sure you've heard, "Build it and they will come" from the movie Field of Dreams.
Renters came!

That was nearly 4 years ago. And finally we're going to move! In September 2007 our dream will come true. Our home in East Grand Rapids is for sale well as our cottage at Torch Lake.

If you are interested in an "awesome getaway" go http://www.Marshallrentals.com

If you know anyone who wants to live in a "wonderful neighberhood" call Rhonda at Caldwell Bankers, 459-0400.

So whatever your dream is I want to stess two things
1. It's never too late
2. Build it and they will come!
Stay happy-Tess