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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Dreams are the plans you make for the future.

This is my rock, my neighborhood, my sand dune, my paradise.
I breathe this in and rejoice.
I pinch myself everyday and declare: Life is Good!
How did we end up here?

We took few vacations all our working years. We were busy most weekends with children's activities, sports, art, music, dancing, plays, 4H, girl and boy scouts. We shopped for necessities; we cleaned and prepared for the following week. Any leisure time we had  was spent shuffling our children to their activities, or spent volunteering, as coaches, referees, supervisors, fund-raisers, feeders, drivers and all around cheer-leaders.

Most summers I  went to school to get another degree, or taught, attended or organized workshops, planned and prepared materials for my classes. As an administrator, I worked twelve months with a few weeks of vacation when both Hubby and the children were available.  We squeezed in reunion visits to family in Montana, Washington State, Italy.

Our most memorable times? The times we spent in a forest, by a creek, camping,in a cottage by the sea.

Our vacations drove us to cooler places, like Northern California, or Oregon.
Oregon was where Hubby spent his childhood, and had many wonderful memories of vacations on the beaches, camping, rock hunting.

When we planned to retire, we knew we wanted to leave Los Angeles and live in a small cottage with an ocean breeze. We began looking just north of San Francisco, and kept looking until we found a place we could afford.
I tell this story often.
I can't believe we are here already, I add.

Yes, we had dreamed about this place. We had also kept that dream alive for decades, constantly alive, like an all night fire, watched and fed, taking turns when things were dark and scary, when possibilities were scarce for advancement and savings, when earthquakes, fires and emergencies seemed to be forever in our present.

We kept watch. We kept feeding those possibilities.

30 comments:

Brian Miller said...

glad you are living that dream, it is beautiful...i understand the squeezing in of vacations too...and often find us in woods or beaches when we can...

Rob-bear said...

If you have a dream, and nurture it, you can have a dream come true. As you have just proved.

Unknown said...

It is wonderful to live a dream...we were the same, not that many vacations but those we did have were memorable too. We always thought we would stay right where we were in No. CA for 40+ years but things and plans changed. I would love to live near the ocean, but Jerry is an inland Mt. man; always thought Ft. Bragg on the No CA coast could work....no sand dunes here in MN along the river!

Meryl Baer said...

"Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true." - L Frank Baum.
You gotta believe! Wonderful you are enjoying your cottage by the sea.

Monkey Man said...

That is a little slice of heaven you live in.

Lisa said...

thank you. build your dreams and your dreams will build you. thank you so much rosaria.

Unknown said...

How wonderful that you achieved your dreams.

Dr. Kathy McCoy said...

Your retirement home is truly paradise -- a dream come true! How wonderful after a lifetime of working so hard and giving so much, you have the reward of a beautiful place to live and the time to think, dream and be together! Very inspiring, beautiful post!

Elizabeth said...

The title of your post is just perfect and I'm very happy that you got your dream after nurturing it for such a long time.

Rubye Jack said...

If you want something enough and keep striving for it, things move in the universe to make it happen. (Goethe said something to that effect.)
I lived in Novato about 5 months ago and returned home to Oklahoma. I miss California but not Novato.
I always thought Inverness or Bolinas would be the perfect place to live but never could afford them.

yaya said...

I've always believed that people will achieve or receive exactly what they want..they just have to want it bad enough, and sacrifice hard enough, and dream happily enough. So glad you are where you want to be!

ellen abbott said...

us too. we decided at one point that we wanted to have some land we could go to, camp on. as the kids got bigger and finally got lives of their own, we tought about moving out of the city completely. We looked for years, in spurts, til we finally found out little place. big enough but not too big, enough space but close to a small town and most important, one we could afford.

erin said...

rosaria, you've had such a full life already, so busy. i'm glad you have this retreat now that you live. i caution that we don't all make it through the earlier years so lucky. i point to the best times for both you and your husband were outside times steeped in nature. and so i suggest to everyone, live closer to nature today. don't wait for tomorrow.

much love rosaria
enjoy that breeze

xo
erin

Vagabonde said...

What a lovely post! You both had a dream, it was realized and you are content. Not many people can say that.

Lyn said...

Rosaria, this is a principle that needs to be shared, especially with our children. It is heartwarming to see you expressing your love for and contentment with the life that once a dream, is your reality. Lovely post.

Joani said...

It's so marvelous that you are able to live that dream and continue to dream on. Thanks for sharing.

That Janie Girl said...

I love it! You kept feeding that dream.

I need to do that.

Cloudia said...

Thank you for feeding DREAMS!



Aloha from Waikiki

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ds said...

How wonderful that you fed your dreams, and they came true! You truly are in a most idyllic spot.

quilterliz said...

G'day Rosaria. How wonderful that your dreams came true and that you never lost sight of what you wanted. It looks like a glorious place where you live. Just goes to show that dreams can and do come true. Take care. Liz...

Diana said...

Thank you for the reminder...some dreams need to be fed for a long while before coming to fruitiion.

Tom said...

As someone who's beginning to let go of the workaday life, and looking forward to real retirement, it's nice to know there is a dream out there. And a paradise. Thanks for the inspiring post!

rjerdee said...

"like an all-night fire, watched and fed"...oh, what lovely words to describe the dream. So glad you are content within your dream now...life is good. My husband said those three words just this morning as he poured his coffee and went out to the balcony overlooking the water...we are lucky people. Privileged.

NitWit1 said...

So wonderful to hear of dreams come true.

Some of us plan and have to alter plans. but yet I slowly learned to be content (and still learning)for life and God allows me. We love to fish, but age and various other factors have forced me into other pasttimes wherein I also find contentment.

Grandmother Mary said...

Good for you. You had the dream, kept it alive, set the goal and went after it. Good example and now you get to revel in the life you chose. I'm glad for you.

Anonymous said...

I love your reminiscences, Rosaria. My father grew up in Oregon. I went there once when I was very young to visit grandparents. I have always wanted to live in a place like where you are. It looks like a dream place, and you look very happy in the photo. Just lovely!
Ann Best, Memoir Author

Shadow said...

...shaping your destiny, i like this.

daneastside said...

Hey, really nice article. Loved your insights and research. Live your dream!!!

hcg said...

What i can initially say is, the view is absolutely amazing!

shopgirl said...

i'm glad you persisted and held onto your dream. I try to live my dream every day. xo