Countdown to Happy: Blue Ridge, Part 2

We have been on this mountain top for a full month, and we're well into our second.
It seems like it has rained every single day (que the thunder and lighting), but with a tin roof, it's a luxury soundtrack in which we didn't have to subscribe. Simply taking the trash out to our bright orange bear-proof container provides a walk in the woods to clear the mind. If you look out back, you'll see remnants of the lightening strike a week back, where it split the tree and sent all of us running for cover. Cody, our fearless old man pup, ran toward the flying bark while I screamed for Len. All of us had to change our underwear that evening.
At the very top of the hill is the resting place for members of the Long family. We walk there about every two days, remove the leaves from the path, kick away the fallen branches, and say hello to the neighbors who we hope will never reply. It is also is where we will leave Bonnie, our white kitty I rescued from a chimney when she was about a week old. We fed her from a dropper several times a day, and she and her brother, Clyde, survived. Clyde left us a couple of years ago, but Bonnie remained as Len's rocking chair mate. She made the move to the mountains seamlessly, but after a couple of weeks, she wandered. A few days later, Cody found her and brought her home. We're leaving her on top of the mountain with a spectacular view of event sunsets. A part of Len's heart will remain at Long View.
Cheese straws for everyone! We completed our first BIG commercial product shoot and it rocked! Not only did we photograph for a national campaign, we got to eat the product. Win-win! Prep is beginning for the launch of our first collaboration, 100 Things to do in Athens, Ga. Before You Die. Technically the last 13 years has been a collaborative effort, but this is the first one with royalties! Wedding season begins mid-September and it will be a marathon until the end of the December. We've missed our couples and the parties. We have sprinkled family sessions, branding sessions, and commercial work through the hot days of summer, and we are grateful for our new clients. What a team!
The hardest reality of month two is starting all over with the entire build. You learn to read the signs, and even though the signs were there sooner and you should have changed direction, you ignored them. Consequently, this is where we find ourselves. Builder. Let go. Bank. Fired. GC. A keeper. We've scrambled quite well over the past couple of days, made hard decisions, and moved forward. Forward is a good place that, in a few months, will not include rent. Concessions of smaller living space and less amenities will work just fine. However, the hand hewn d-logs spaced with white chinking will frame our homestead - however small it might be.
Month two is halfway over, and we remain full of gratitude. Len still feels a bit homeless, as I guess I do, but with answers found, it becomes easier to find home.