Mel and Stu’s Good Adventure
Anticipation. The car finally, finely loaded. Sagan settled in his crate. Mel and Stu listening to a fun novel – the miles melt away. Five hours later, a quick drive-by of the Sisters of Divine
Providence to check out Cumberland Road at Friday rush hour – not bad – and on to our AirBnB. The property is a bit below expectations and it will do!
More anticipation. Breakfast and a new novel to read together, James. Going to be a good one!
Ready to meet RCE friends. Soon the hugs begin. Delighted to see Kristi, Judy, Stefani and Jill at
Hello Bistro! Lunch and good conversation: Buddhist retreats, performance art, Outward Bound
and more…
Then off to SDP. Mel and I arrive first to find we are not. Elizabeth and parents, Mimi and
Skyanna are ready to go! So, we make Sagan ready too and we gather around our tour guide:
Stefani. Who else? Inquirer (soon to be Explorer) Celena arrives as expected. Maps distributed;
we head down the hill towards the property.
What a difference! Last time we were here: Christmas day – the trees beautiful and stark with
their bare limbs. Now all new spring leaves fill the space all around. The wonderful sounds of a
babbling creek and bird song. Aaahhh! Lovely! Tall trees, filtered light, green, green, green.
More arrivals! Tink and Chris, and then our son, Seth, and his friend, Andrew. More hugs, big
smiles.
Heading up into the heights, there are the stakes for the Common House! The view we will share from the porch will be lovely! Just up the way stakes marking out the Northwest cluster:
Locusts to the left, Walnuts straight ahead and Hickories to the right. And across the ravine the Southeast cluster, stakes marking out more Locusts and Walnuts. Our community, already
formed, starting to take shape. Exciting!
Now we stand on the ground to be occupied by our first choice for our new house. Wow! This
will work! Deep breath – taking in the living earth, feeling new roots. We form and reform small groups admiring the beauty, seeking information, imagining.
Possibilities abound! Chatting with a fellow dog owner/founder: maybe we can live next to each
other and combine yards for our dogs to play?! Did Sagan’s ears just perk up?! Oops! Our time is up; the Buddhist sangha retreat participants will soon be back! We gather again at the foot of the Heights for a group photo. And then, we walk back towards our cars sharing our excitement with each other. Farewell for now.
We have seen our new home, our community. It is happening!
Checking out with gratitude and joy!
– Stu Bush, Founding member & future resident of RCE, May 24, 2024