Have you ever felt forgotten about?
You know, like the world just moves on without you?
Not really meaning to leave you behind and yet... somehow, one day... you realize it's just.... happened.
Everybody you loved has seemed to just move on while you're in the same place you were before.
Not stagnant.. there's still growth... but maybe the growth looks different.
It doesn't look as much like globetrotting or moving on and getting married and raising families... or growing large businesses that require you to move across the country.
No.... sometimes the growth looks like hanging out, connecting with nature, deepening with the earth, and returning to your roots... a natural state of being if you will...
Or being taken over by nature.
That's the state Jasmine found me in.
I was practicing becoming one with the land.
So much so, that she had to bring a machete to our first meeting. She had to wade through bush and swamp to check out my perimeter.
She had to conquer the overgrowth to enter my doors.
But she's not really the conquering type. She's more the let's work together and find a fit that's best for all of us! So the plants didn't really mind. They knew she'd be a thoughtful and attentive land tender.
But this is my story.
The land is a part of it, but not from the beginning...
You see, back in the 1960’s, I was actually up and moved!
That's right!
I used to live down in the valley to house the railroad workers.
But when the railroad was done.. a young man and his family hired a company to pick me right up from my foundation and move me up the mountain to the spot you've come to know me in.
There's all sorts of history that I've seen. A family raised, the man and his wife grown old having lived a rich, full life.
But what do you do when you have 5 kids that have been raised within your walls? You stand tall. Sturdy. Unshakable like that sturdy oak out in the back.
(By the way - if you notice, there's a rope hanging off that old oak? It's practically grown to be a part of the tree at this point.. that's from the 1968 Good Year blimp! Random but fun fact. (: )
Anyways. Kids will grow up, you know? Move out of the family home. Get lives and homes and families of their own.
And that's what happened.. They all up and left.
I wasn't bitter. I understood. But it was still.... an adjustment. It was quieter as the couple that raised a full life began to slow down... move slower..
And when they finally moved to an assisted living home, it was the most quiet.
No one ever came to visit.
So I sat.
For 5 long years, I sat. Empty. Quiet. With nothing but the earth and the occasional critter to keep me company.
That's why the land started to reclaim me, you know.
I had nothing better to do anyways. So I figured, hey! Why not.
So I opened my windows and let the vines weave their ways upon my walls.
I softened my porch and let the woods crumble back into the earth as plants soon seeded and took root in the freshly forming soil.
I surrounded myself with the local plants and nature that took over the walkways, the driveway, the hillside.
You could still see me.... But it was nice, in a way. I was becoming one again, one with the land around me. Belonging and no longer alone.
But that would change the day Jasmine came over.
She made her way through. Carved land and plant to make space for us all to be here.
She needed to first look me over, you know.
Make sure my bones were strong enough for her vision.
She wasn't sure exactly what that vision would be, but it came together as we got to know each other.
It wasn't long before we got to work. Reclaiming that I was to stand solid and nature would co-exist with me rather than rule for both of us.
Jasmine gave me a full makeover.
She needed a mission, you see.
She was, in a way... giving herself a new life as well as me.
She'd just changed everything.
Moved to a new town to help take care of her grandmother who wasn't long for this earth...
Said goodbye to all of the friends she’d known and knew her.
And was still piecing herself back from a massive turning point in her life that had come about just half a year prior.
The big C word.
Yep - Jasmine was diagnosed at the tender young age of 20 with Ovarian Cancer.
She was a survivor though.
And she threw herself into healing.
That's part of why she moved into me.
She needed a place that was safe, that was hers... that she could heal.
And it wasn't just physically that she needed to heal.
Her whole life had changed and she was piecing it back together bit by bit.
So as she ripped up my floor, tore out old plumbing and electrical systems, learned how to remodel not just this old house, but also her own internal house...
We, together, discovered that what lie underneath... was as good as gold. Strength.
We found strength.
Strength in the subfloor, in the framing, in the decisiveness to create. In the will to live. In the power to heal.
That's really what we did together... you know, we decided to live.
And since we made that decision, what did we want that to look like?
To honor the nature that had moved into me before me... when Jasmine textured and painted my walls, she gathered up plants from the garden and pressed them into the texture in the walls, making an imprint before removing the leaves and branches and painting over it.
You'll see it in the kitchen and dining area if you look on the walls.. you can still see the ferns and maple leaves, and so many others adding life to the space.
At one point, she turned an old bookshelf I came with into a giant herpetarium. She loved snakes since she was a young girl. There was something about them that would soothe her nervous system and bring her into the present moment. And since our time was all about healing and peace, she made them an enclosure that could bring the outside, inside.
We built it around this really cold giant piece of driftwood we found at the nearby lake.
It was that whole wall behind the couch. 8ft tall, 6 ft wide, and 2 ft deep.
A work of art.
And the Serpents loved it.
And we loved it. It brought even more life and light inside, you know? And since she spent sooo many long hours in my kitchen juicing and preparing healing nutritional foods, I think they kept her company.
She lived with me for about 2 years before she left to travel the world. Seeking out healers and teachers in different countries, with different beliefs and different traditions.
And I had this wonderful man move in. He was with me for yeeaaaarrrss. 7 of them.
He took really good care of me. We had this beautiful and abundant organic garden that would yield baskets and baskets of organic rich beautiful and bright veggies and fruits.
Have you seen the apple tree in the backyard? That's been there for longer than I can even remember! If you're here with me when the apples are ripe, you're more than welcome to help yourself to some! I've heard they're delicious.
There's really nothing like being able to not just house your people, but also feed them.
My land, this land... has been fully organic for at least 15 years. It feels so good to not have any chemicals used on my precious earth.
If you've been outside and noticed the pond (yes, I know... it needs some improvements... it was a free hot tub Jasmine got because someone gifted her a whole bunch of Koi eggs and we wanted to make a nice big home for them. And then she never got around to redoing it.) But you may notice some of the fish still alive in there! It's also a local watering hole for the neighborhood wildlife.. cats and turkeys mostly.
Jasmine came back to me just a few years ago. All grown up and ready for our next remodel.
For this one, we went all in.
We were ready.
She gutted me.
Tore out the kitchen, the floors, even a few walls, and the ceiling.
But goodness it felt sooooo good.
You know when you have a bunch of stuff in your closet that just sits there for so long it becomes a part of the closet itself ("part of the ship.. part of the crew." - hehe, don't mind my Pirates of the Caribbean jokes.). And then you finally go about cleaning out that corner and it feels so bright and so light it's like a breath of fresh air? And all of a sudden, you feel like a weight's been removed?
Well.... that's what it felt like!
It felt like I had brightened up from the inside out! And I had! There's now so much more natural lighting inside me than there was before.
That's why I can have so many plants with me now.
I love them. <3 But I'll come back to that.
Jasmine took great care in putting me back together.
Those kitchen countertops?
They were hand sanded...
Personally picked out for me. To highlight what my space has to offer.
I love what she's done. How she's been able to find my best qualities and highlight them.
And all those added touches? Like the sauna in the closet that really makes a much better sauna home than it ever did for clothes... plus, it keeps up with the healing theme that was how she and I came together.
And, you see.... through her travels, she discovered one of the things she really valued, was getting to bring the outside, inside. So that during the winter, she didn't feel all closed up and I didn't have to be separate from the natural world.. And during the summer, we could open all the windows and the plants inside got such beautiful fresh breezes.
It's like a jungle in here. And Jasmine moved all these plants around endless times when she lived here. Fine-tuning to see where each of them were happiest. That's where you see them now. ..they chose those spots.
She's really good at listening.
That's why she moved on again too though. Listening. Ready to start a family with her soon-to-be husband.
I met him. He's AMAZING.
And plus, she felt like she created a retreat here.
And knew how valuable that could be for people.
So we decided to open me up to be shared.
To invite people in to create (oh hey! There's a *soundbooth* in the office!) and to heal and to enjoy and to get to be in and feel the space. My space. Me.
I like to house and welcome in new people.
I feel like I get to offer a refuge of sorts. From the busyness of regular life. As a creative and healing retreat for those who are ready. Or just a spot to put your feet up after a day of hiking through the nearby lands.
They like to be explored, you know.. the mountains.
And I like to meet people.
I've liked meeting you!
I hope you've been finding your time with me to be exactly what you've needed.
And if you come back through the area, I hope you'll come back and visit! I would love to see you again.
If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or compliments, please do not hesitate to reach out! Jasmine and I have done our best to make sure you have everything you need and more. And, if there are ways we can improve, you bet we'll take it into consideration.
With love, warmth, and care.
Yours truly.
The House.
