Our home, The Cottage.
Margaret,
I found and bought this house a couple months before we met, but you immediately made your presence know, felt, welcome, and home; The Cottage was always ours, even if I didn't always see that. Yeah, it's my project, but it's our home, our first home. It's because of you that all of the greatest memories from here are joyous, important, inspiring, and meaningful. Your ideas and questions and encouragement have made massive changes to that fate of this house, and all for the better. We raised a dog from poor to good health here. We worked on our health together here. We lived through wildfire smoke, and driveway fire, and crazy ice storms here.
This house loves you.
I speak house now too. Just.. That's a thing I do. From remodeling. Don't think about it too much. The house loves you.
New Years Eve Party
Matt came up from California to stay and helped prepare the house for the party. I didn’t have many fiends in town but I wanted to meet or get better acquainted with your friends, so they all came: Matt, Carl, Lauren, Jeff, Sherryi, Meghan, (Alex? Don’t think so), Maia, Dylan, Gillian, Kate, and Charlie. You were worried that they wouldn’t all get along, being from different worlds. With the exception of one bad combo of personalities, it went really well.
There was food and vegan food, drinks and alcohol, a Photo Booth wall, and for the big finale, at midnight I pulled a trap to release balloons from the ceiling down on everyone. I can’t believe that worked.. I don’t even know how I rigged that up…
I was not proud or happy with how I looked, and looking back I can’t believe I host a party in a house that looked like that, But I’m glad I did.
I am, however, very proud of the trophy on my arm and in my heart.
