Hey There, Old Friend
Howdy! How ya been?
As for me, I’ve been living, learning, and healing. This past year has been something else. Before most things I put my mental health first and scaling back commitments was something that needed to happen. But here I am, feeling rejuvenated and somewhat healed from what was thrown my/our way.
This year has definitely been better than last year but there have still been some hurdles along the way (naturally).
Featured in this post:
Mia’s passing
Bell’s misadventure
Kenzie and my misadventure
Blue House update
Recent project updates to come!
Buckle up!
Early this year we lost our sweet baby girl Mia Moo. She was 14 and the queen of all queens. She lived a very happy, comfortable (spoiled, tbh), and fulfilling life. Her last night here with us I stayed with her on the floor in my dad’s living room. She had been struggling pretty badly for about a week prior to this night. It was incredibly hard but I know that being there with her during that time meant the world to her—as hard as it was to hold her as she moved on.
Our other little girl, Bell, had an adventure of a lifetime about a month and a half later. I was downtown meeting up with some friends and decided to bring her with me. She hadn’t been socialized much since she was glued to Mia (and Mia was not much of a social butterfly being the little old lady that she was).
We were seated outside and I went inside briefly to use the restroom and when I came back outside, everyone but one person was gone, including Belly. “She got loose and ran as soon as you went inside.” My heart stopped. She had never been in this area before. She was a speed demon. We were nowhere close to home.
I immediately ran in the direction they pointed me and held it together for about 15 minutes before breaking down and failing to find any clue of where she had gone. I’ll spare all the details of looking under dumpsters and calling out her name at all hours of the day, for days straight.
She was missing for 4 days, not to mention that the temperature dropped below 25° in the evening. It was truly excruciating.
The support from friends, family, and the community was incredibly beautiful—we had random strangers offer to help. We had friends of friends, friends of family, police officers, mailmen looking for her on their own time.
The day we reunited, I got a call from a man early in the morning saying he thought he found her, confirming she was wearing a little blue sweater. We about had a heart-attack. He saw the missing flyer we put in a gas station (which ended up being the last place we put a missing flyer, on a whim nevertheless) where he worked.
He said she wandered up to his grandmother’s home, presumably looking for food and water. He gave us his address, we pulled in, opened the door, and her tiny, scared, exhausted head peered around the corner. It was a miracle through and through! She was a wreck but mustered up the energy to greet us with cries of happiness and relief. We were crying too, obviously.
The duration of those 4+ days felt like it was 5 weeks long. But it was all worth it the second she was back in our arms.
So we get Bell back and about 3-4 weeks later, Kenzie (my sister) and I have a getting-lost-experience for ourselves. It was still during the winter but there was a warm wave so we decided to go for a hike. We got off work for the day and almost immediately headed out to our hiking spot.
We had done this trail once before (plus there were a few signs throughout the area) and we had recently watched The Social Dilemma (if you haven’t watched, you should) so we decided to “unplug” and leave our phones in the car.
This was the afternoon on the day we found her. She could hardly stand up for an extended period of time (she had sores on the pads of her paws. The Bloomington streets be brutal!). She slept for almost 10 hours straight.
We’re walking our chosen trail and things are fine and dandy for awhile. We were taking in the warmer weather, talking, breathing, recharging. After what felt like was past the time when we should have come back full circle to the trailhead, we realized we had either missed a turn or accidentally turned unintentionally at some point.
Not dissimilar to Bell’s sores on her paws from being lost. Like dog like hooman?
It was starting to get dark. There was still snow on the ground from a snowfall from a few days prior. Turns out that was our saving grace. We had been walking for several miles, trying to stay on-trail (it was a more narrow trail and the one we were on was a much larger loop, less traveled: less obvious footprints + darkness) but the few footprints in the snow helped guide the way.
It was a pretty clear night so the moonlight was illuminating the snow somewhat which helped keep the trail visible. There weren’t any signs back in the area we were in, we ran into one later but could hardly read it because we didn’t have a light source and there was no snow around to brighten things up…LOL SIGH!
We eventually found a map we could read and followed it to the trailhead. When we were nearing the end, we heard someone yell “Kenzie!!” It was our friends Hannah and Katie—Kenzie had made plans with them for the evening but quickly forgot about the plans when we realized we were lost. The tracked our phones and saw we were by the lake, went to where the phones were (locked in the car 🙃) and knew we weren’t just frolicking in the 9pm woods, contactless.
We finally made it to the parking lot and just broke down. We knew we’d be okay deep down but when we were in the woods with little to no light, a trail we were ~hoping~ to stay on, and wondering how long we’ve walked and how much was left was draining and honestly, fucking terrifying.
I have a few matching scars on my ankles from that little…misadventure.
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Phew, that was a lot. Let’s talk about less worrying topics!
I’ve had lots of people ask about the Blue House (if you’re unfamiliar with what I’m talking about, have a look here) and how the project is coming along. In short, it’s been slow!
We haven’t been rushing things for various reasons. A few being: since my dad owns it and isn’t in a hurry to sell it, buying it isn’t a rush—especially because it’s not a listed property so there aren’t people to compete with. Alsooooo construction materials are INSANELY high. Supply/demand during and post-Covid is real.
We talkin’ like 80% spike in prices.
For a project of this scale, dasss a lot of money for what could otherwise be less than half the price for the same materials and work.
And as expected, there have been hurdles from the get-go for getting it lined up. Who has the best loan rates, what requirements come with the selected mortgage company, who to have do the actual work (and if they meet those requirements). The list goes on.
We’ll get there! This ain’t no treehouse project. This is a 6-figure project. And as impatient as I am, I know that doing things right, taking the appropriate time needed for paperwork and selections and vetting is the way to go.
But GOTDAMN I’m ready to get in there and claim her as my nest. Until then, I’m still loving the apartment that Kenzie and I live in. :)
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I’ve been working on some cool projects this year as well! Seeing as this post has been filled to the brim with updates and details, I’ll carve out a squeaky new post here soon. Stay tuned and thanks for reading, I luv u.
XO,
HMC
