Article by Wendy McCance
I have spent a good deal of time planning my future. In just a few more years, the kids will be of legal age and off creating their own future. I am conflicted. I love my kids and have envisioned having a home where there is enough room that the kids can have their own wing or guest house or apartment over the garage. I imagine having enough space for everyone to have personal privacy and yet, still live together. In my perfect world, I would have an estate where all of the kids and their families had a place they could call home or at least take a great vacation at.
If I had the money, my home would be made up entirely of master suites. Enough suites for each kid. I envision big bedrooms, a sitting area, private bath, fireplace and a personal balcony or patio. The kids could come with their own kids in tow and bunker down during the holidays and delight in swimming and lake living (of course we would live on a lake) in the summer. This fairly detailed daydreaming that I do is well-known to the kids who understand in no uncertain terms that if they stuck around forever, I would be thrilled (as long as we had the space so as not to run each other over).
My kids are great at letting me entertain these outrageous ideas, and then oh so gently let me know that in a few years they will be moving on. Their own lives are calling and they have bigger things to do and much to see in life. I understand and I’m happy to hear such a healthy response, but when they leave, it will be bittersweet.
I have another vision of my future. This one involves me and my husband and what we would like the second half of our own lives to look like. I am grateful to have met a man who so closely sees a future as similar as mine. I feel this is a rare occurrence given that my vision is so very defined. Thank goodness my husband and I like the same things, and enjoy each others company as much as we do.
In this version of my future, we move up north. I want to live in an area by the water (hopefully a lakefront home) where you are out away from the town just enough to feel like there is space to breath. The town has to be evolved enough to have good restaurants, art galleries, a bookstore etc… The town itself should be much more than a few blocks long. I have already picked out several places that would be ideal and thankfully, my husband loves the same places that I do.
I want some land. Not a lot of land, but enough to grow a garden, have a studio and have a workshop for my husband. A barn with a workshop on the first level and a studio on the second level would fit just perfectly. The home should have a fireplace for those cold snowy nights and a deck for beautiful summer days.
In the winter, I wish to become a hermit. I’ll go into town once a week for groceries and other essentials, but the rest of the time I will be in my studio creating. I picture writing, painting, listening to good music and always having a bottle of wine chilling in a small wine cooler. Every now and then, I will take a break to sit by the fire with a cozy blanket and a good book. Reading is the best way to gain knowledge and inspiration. My days and nights will become a blur of time as I decide to stay up until I have run out of energy and sleep in until I am sufficiently ready to start another day.
Recently I shared in great detail to my husband what I wanted my future to look like. I want a life up north. I mentioned that winter would be for creative pursuits where time didn’t matter. Summer would be for lake living. In the summer we would enjoy the outdoors, have friends and family over continuously and really soak up the sun. I picture many bbq’s, music piped in over the deck, time out on the boat, swimming in the water and a hammock for those mid-day siestas. I’d go on bike rides, explore vineyards and walk around at the farmers market planning a feast for the evening.
My husband is on board. He likes the idea of taking his creativity to a whole other level. He is happy to have more privacy but without the isolation. He is thrilled at the idea of having a home where winters are for creating and summers are for entertaining.
In five years, life will begin to change for us. Kids will be off to college, finding places of their own and getting jobs to support themselves. Hopefully, I will still have summers with them. I hope that our home becomes the vacation spot they desire when they have time to relax.
It is five years away, and I am spending my days dreaming of the future. It will be interesting to see how everything in my life pans out. Will I move up north? Will there be a house on the lake? Will I allow myself to become a winter hermit? Will I have enough creativity to want to explore my thoughts for that many months at a time? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I am enjoying thinking about the possibilities.
Wendy McCance
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I would love to live in a house with big bedrooms each with their own bathroom and a nice big eat in kitchen never going to happen but nice to dream
Always nice to dream. 🙂
Dear Wendy,
I loved reading about your dreams. If you become a best selling author, you will surely be able to achieve your summer and winter dream all in one. But even if you don’t you will have rich memories and treasured friends like all of us( including me), who wish you well and actually want you to keep blogging and not taking off, far away from the madding crowd.
Thanks Susie, you made my day. 🙂
That would certainly be a dream come true ! I’m sure you’ll make it a reality someday. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I’ll let you know. 🙂