You're probably wondering why I have't given too much information about our children. Well, that's private, they are private, and we love each of them so will respect their privacy and the life they live. They are all adults, now, except for one, who is less than one year from that magic "18". They thrive the way each one of them can, some graduated from college, some work everyday, doing what they love, and our youngest two, have a blank slate to paint their picture. Regardless of what they decide to do in their life, and despite what some think, we love each and every one of them.
In 2006, as the children were winding down for the night. I remember it vividly, it was winter, January to be exact, and Maria and I were sitting on the couch. Both dogs at the time, a Beagle named Jimmy and a Gold Lab/Husky mix named Jar-Jar, curled in their corners, sometimes lifting their heads to see what was going on, but they were relaxed. Maria was perusing a newspaper with real estate ads in it. She asked me to look at an ad she was interested in.
I looked. It was a black and white photo of an old school house. It looked dilapidated, from the old wood siding, to the missing school bell, and like it needed a lot of work. Within the next two days, after the weekend ended, I set up a day we could look at it. I was kind of excited, and we already had a house to live in, so I had a small, very small number in my head. Deep down, I figured I would throw a low ball offer to the realtor, they would reject my offer and we could move on.
The place was massive, for a one room schoolhouse. There was a drop down ceiling to help with heating since it had, five years prior, been used as a nursery in the area. It had thin glued carpet to the original wood floors. As we walked through it, plumes of air could visibly be seen exiting our mouths, due to the winter weather howling in what we call now the "wind tunnel" in the yard. The floors were solid, not a creak to be heard, that was a bonus. I could see the light in my wife's eyes as she looked around. It was a blank canvas, and my offer would surely save me some blood and sweat when the realtor gave it to the owners.
I threw my offer to him. He wrote it down, we signed the paperwork for the offer.
The waiting game ended when the realtor called and told me the group of people who owned the place accepted the offer. I was bummed, yet a certain excitement filled me. Our journey began, after a few hurdles with the title, and we signed the paperwork in February 2006.
It had begun. It was going to serve as a cottage, located in the small town of Stevats (not the real town, but a city I often write about). We had a '34 foot Airstream that we camped in with the family. We used this to shower and sleep in after a hards day work. First and foremost, we titled it, my wife thought it was a cabin, so it needed a title. I write horror, this was going to be our retirement "nest" so we titled it "Dark Nest". Here it is, twelve years later and a lot of hard work, and it's ours. I'm going to end this portion here. Remember this is a build up, and I don't want to bore you.
Remember, help us brand our YouTube channel by subscribing to our adventures and giving us some video support, if that's your thing. Dark Nest Travels is here. Click the link, hit the subscribe button, and get your video on! I will have more, there's plenty more to share with all of you, so please stay tuned!