When we were thinking about buying the house, we had long talks about how we would maintain the road. We had recently purchased a Honda Civic, which we knew would spend a lot of time parked a half mile from the house. We would not have been interested in that car if we'd known what kind of road we would be living on, but such is life. We walk or drive the truck in and out. We bought a plow truck to take care of the road for the winter. We put money aside for fill for the spring. We had the best of intentions. However, it is all easier said than done. The road continues to deteriorate and there really isn't a lot we can do about it.
In the long run, it seems a small price to pay for the love we have for our home and our lives in the middle of nowhere. Hopefully we will have an AWD vehicle in the near future instead of the Civic. Yet, there is no shortage of work for us, and the road is only one part of it. And it does make for some great stories!
We had a home birth with Charlie. In April. Down that God-forsaken road. My midwives are brave souls, to say the least. When I started having contractions, Andrew and I walked up and down the road with shovels, digging trenches for runoff. (Okay, Andrew did most of the work; I leaned on my shovel and groaned a lot.) We had a backup plan: we would birth at my mother's house if the road became impassable. Andrew did hourly road checks for the two days that I was having early labor contractions and, when the time FINALLY came, he determined that we could have Charlie at home.
Boy, was that a close call. But we did it! After another day of contractions, yells, groans, laughs, tears, frustration, and elation, Charles was a part of the world.
One week later, we drove the truck on the road and hit a sinkhole. We sank the truck up the frame. Charlie and Mommy got out and stood in the rain while Daddy ripped and rutted the truck out. And the whole time I stood on the side of the road with my sleeping son, I was thinking, "Holy crap. That would have sucked a week ago. We are so lucky."
Dear readers, how many of you have had babies? Moms, do you remember that fun healing process after birthing your bundle of joy? I won't remind you in writing. I assume it was fun enough without reliving it while reading this blog. I like to keep this a traumatic flashback-free zone. So you can imagine that having to walk in and out with a baby while I was healing was no cake walk. That hurt. It hurt a lot, man. What's funny is that, at the time, I gave it no thought. It just was what it was, and there must have been no sense in whining about it. Also, I had this beautiful little gift named Charlie, so he consumed most of my thoughts, anyway.
I need to channel that feeling. I need to let go of these frustrations more easily. I was so good at it then. What happened? We are surrounded by so much beauty. Why is that so easy to forget? Maybe that will be a New Years resolution. I've been feeling so frustrated lately and it's so hard to see through it to the other side. Sometimes I doubt that there even is something positive on the other side.
Maybe when I feel that way I should go for a nice long walk on my road. Hey, driving on it may be awful, but I can't imagine a more beautiful walk. There's that silver lining I was looking for.
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