A Dream Since Early Childhood - Part 1

I do not  know where it came from. Honestly, I have no idea. Maybe it was from my love of crafting, creating things, 'playing' with my Dad's scrap wood, hammer and nails, building things. Oh, how I ADORED making things out of all my Dad's scrap wood left over from his projects! But for as far back as I can remember, I had a strong desire to build a community of tiny little houses, a community of people in a country atmosphere, living an old-fashioned lifestyle. How odd that in that vision, even as a small child, I was not exactly living in that community full-time, but instead, building it for people that didn't have a home. At that young age, I did not yet know what the word "homeless" meant, but somehow, I DID  know.

As I moved into the second half of my grade school years, my Dad's graph paper began to disappear. Oh, my! Yes, one day he caught me! I was surprised that I didn't get into trouble. He didn't even pretend to get mad like he did when he caught me with his missing wood marking pencils. Instead, he wanted to see what I was doing with it. I showed him, but I just could not read his facial response. It actually seemed to be one of amusement!

One evening, soon after that, Dad came home with a surprise for me . . . . a very large, very thick, graph paper pad! I think I was more excited over that graph paper pad than nearly any Christmas present I ever got! And even better, yet . . . my dad didn't laugh at my odd idea. He actually seemed to understand. He never asked me about it again, though. He just left me to myself to dream and design, which was exactly how I wanted it, and exactly what I needed. . . . . to be left alone with my odd, creative ideas

Over the years, I measured out, scribbled, arranged, and drew out tiny house floor plans and community layouts all over that pad. Sometimes I would draw (okay, scribble because we all know I can't draw) out new ideas. Other times I would just flip through the pages and ponder my work. Then other times, I would put it away for awhile to let it rest, then come back to it. I had a remarkable, inexplicable drive to create this vision of a community.

The summer I turned 17, we moved from the very small house I grew up in. At summer's end, I began my final year of high school. It was a very challenging year with difficult classes. I attended high school half a day, and also began a few college hours. That old graph pad got put away for a spell. Then I started to college the next year, dragged that old pad back out and took it with me. I had heavy loads at college, but I didn't have so many home responsibilities and actually had a little time now and then to, once again, work on my tiny little community idea.

At the end of that first college y ear, I got married and began my own family life. Many of my childhood thhings got packed away and stored. Other things 'magically' disappeared, never to be seen again. My graph paper pad with my vision sketched all over it was just one of those things. It used to upset me, but not really, now. All through life, from time to time, my mind had drifted back to ponder my old vision, and those old "drawings" are firmly etched into my mind. THAT cannot be taken away from me. I still hold onto a glimmer of hope that some day they will turn up, but if not, it's still good.