I have moved for college... moved for work... and moved across the country for love, but

five years ago today I moved for beauty.

I was born a Texan and raised a Texan, but I truly believe that I was supposed to come live in
New England.
I feel that my heart came home by moving here.

My late father gave me my love of nature through our summers of vacationing in Colorado, Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, Oregon, and his deep love for the Tetons in Wyoming.

Dan loves nature and the mountains as I do and during the years we lived in Dallas we would make numerous trips to Colorado each year to get our fix. It wasn't until one day in Dallas while Dan and I were driving near the edge of the city and I spotted a beautiful tree-lined green field of about 7 acres (an unusual sight in the metroplex of Dallas) that I had an epiphany- I needed to move. The overwhelming intense reaction I had at seeing that little tiny plot of undisturbed land made me realize that I needed, not just wanted, to live in and around natural beauty.

Everyone is different- for some living in the city is beauty and feeds their creative soul; but for me, I realized in that moment that I needed to live surrounded by nature as much as I needed food and water. I didn't always feel that way. When I was younger the thought of living in the country made me uncomfortable and had no appeal. But with age came clarity on what my heart now desired.

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”

-John Muir-

As I've mentioned before, not many a day goes by that one of us doesn't say...

"Look where we get to live!"
We both feel very blessed to have landed in such a beautiful, special place not having any real experience with New England and not knowing a soul here. I've had people tell me it was such a brave thing to do, but for us it wasn't so much bravery as necessity.

I always start to get emotional when I have the thought of "what if".... what if we hadn't thrown caution to the wind and followed our hearts, leaving family and good friends behind and moved to New Hampshire.... what if?

The mere thought makes me sad and can bring me to tears. I think I would have never found that part of my heart that knows peace.

... and I would never have met you.

Thank you for being on this journey with us.

On this 5th anniversary of the day we arrived in New Hampshire I thought I would share the world around us. They are but a few of the reasons why we moved for the love of beauty...

"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."
-John Muir-