Re-wild Life Blog

My son and I sat together, cuddled up under a thick blanket, watching vivid images of various green-hued foliage on the TV. Bright blues, reds, yellows, and every other color imaginable flashed across the screen as we listened to the soothing voice of David Attenborough. My son leaned against me silently drinking it all in. To me it felt surreal while surrounded by boring, brown cardboard boxes yet to be unpacked. I had begun my first semester at a four year university just 11 days after moving in.

The apartment we lived in was a decent little place close to family and was in the “right” school district in the area, or so I thought. I had to sacrifice having my own washer and dryer to get it too. Not having your own washer can really make life difficult when you have kids. The convenience is a luxury I never knew I had until I had to live without it.

After living in four different states, three of which my son attended school in, I knew that education varied immensely across state lines. However, I had not realized the vast difference across even side by side districts. This was indeed my own experience as a child when I had to change to a neighboring district after moving, but I thought or perhaps hoped that the world had changed. I was in for a surprise.

Within a few months I was homeschooling my son. This led to our moving out, despite my son’s giggles over the giant termites downstairs, when the owners decided to renovate the unit next to ours. Having neighbors that stored their trash on their balcony above mine for so long it started raining maggots on my balcony didn’t help either. It was still better than where we ended up.

The next apartment was worse. Way worse. It’s dingy, threadbare, poo-brown carpet and complete lack of sun exposure had my son nicknaming it a hell cave. It was marketed for students and had I seen that place before opening the front door I never would have signed the lease, but they only had a showcase apartment. It was my second experience renting a place sight unseen and will absolutely be my last.

The showcase had beautiful floors, paint unmarred by anything, art on the walls, an open design, gorgeous kitchen cabinets and a full-size dishwasher. It also had a washer and dryer closet. The reality was the world’s smallest dishwasher along with the world’s smallest washing machine. The air filter in the furnace looked like it hadn’t been replaced in years and the air ducts looked like Chewbacca’s cousin had been living in them. The whole place was filthy, and I was exactly one week away from the beginning of a new semester.

After the washing machine flooded my place, and ants invaded my apartment in the middle of January in a way that brought new understanding to a certain song about marching ants, I was officially fed up with renting. I was mentally and emotionally ready for my own place but not necessarily financially. I was desperate to provide some stability for my son because autism complicates his life enough as it is. After a long and draining search I finally got a house that spawned dreams for us.

While standing in the living room we are surrounded by greenery in the summer. The house sits on 3/4 acre of land and there was a small garden that had seen better days. The whole house had seen better days and I was ill prepared for how much work it turned out to be. However, we have been so much happier. Despite the irritation of everyone around I refused to mow just half the grass in the back after finding out the deer were bedding down on my land. I’ve had to ask my neighbor to stop cutting things down on my property several times.

We have now watched many more documentaries such as “Kiss the Ground,” “Sustainable,” and “The Biggest Little Farm.” I wrote a ten page paper on climate change in college by choice and was shocked at the things I learned. This is my endeavor to make a change. Everything in life has a reason for me. I was meant to find this place and grow.