Life on the Farm

Sunday morning we woke up to a phone call from Alissia's aunt. Something about a cottage on a farm that someone was renting out about a mile away from her house. It was "old and outdated" but it made her think of us a month ago and she'd just not gotten around to calling. The rent is lower than our apartment and on the same side of Chicago as all of Alissia's family. Lately, we have been out there every single weekend, despite the fact that it's 45 minutes away. So, without an address, contact information or anything more than a sense of exploration, we decided to get in the car and just go look. We both love historic houses, tall trees, peaceful solitude. We love our current apartment too, but while talking of ways to cut expenses, the thought of moving had already been brought up.

We got lost on our way out west. Alissia hadn't been to her aunt's neighborhood in about 10 years. We had to call Aunt Tammy for directions twice. When we finally located the almost invisible gravel circle drive, we saw an old farm caretaker house surrounded by lots of grass and trees. There was an enormous barn off to the side and horse stables on the other, with a beautifully maintained vegetable garden in between. The energy of the place was Amazing. We circled the house a few times in the car but there were no signs about the place being for rent or a contact number. Eventually we got out and knocked on the door but no one answered. We could hear classical music playing inside and thought that perhaps someone was there working. It was clear that no one currently lived there, but who knew if the new tenant just hadn't moved in yet? Just as we were getting Graceland back into the car and figuring we'd ask Aunt Tammy if she could do some recon, a car pulled into the circular drive behind us.

"Are you looking for Elizabeth?" a woman asked me. I was afraid she was the new tenant and we were trespassing on her beautiful space. My heart was in my throat.
"Are you renting this place?
"No."
"Well, we were told that this place was for rent. Someone saw a sign or something, but now we can't find a sign and we have no idea who to contact."
"Oh, well, then you are looking for Elizabeth. She owns this place. Get back in your car and follow me and I'll take you to her."

It turns out that this woman, whose name was Kathy, had been interested in renting the cottage but her house failed to sell and she had to back out. She was bringing her grandchildren to see it, because she still loved it, even though she wasn't going to live there. We followed her to another nearly invisible gravel drive which led to a Huge house, several fields and another caretaker house. When Kathy got ahold of Elizabeth by phone, she came out and Kathy explained where she had found us.

"Sign? I've never had a sign up for that place. I'm very private."
"Ummm, well, our Aunt told us that the place was for rent, so we just drove over to check it out."
"Well, what exactly is it that you're looking for?"

Well, isn't That the question of the weekend. I explained that we currently lived in Evanston in an apartment but had a large dog who might like some more frequent outside time. Elizabeth went around the car to meet Graceland and was instantly in love. She asked about what I do for a living. Oh great, more questions I don't have good answers for. I told her that I'm a Reiki Master and a Life Coach and starting a business in those areas. She let me know that in no uncertain terms could I run a business out of the house. The farm has been in her family since the 1930s, the last holdout while subdivisions bought up the land around it and created a village. She does anything and everything she can to protect her "Sanctuary". Despite the fact, that I had in fact, been thinking of meeting clients in my home I promised her that I would find somewhere else to practice. I could tell that this place was worth protecting.

After she visited with Kathy for a few minutes and returned a couple phone calls, Elizabeth took us over to see the house. It's 2 1/2 bedrooms, 1 bath, and Old with lots of natural light and the most tranquil energy I've felt outside of camping in the middle of the woods. I LOVE it. Alissia LOVES it. Elizabeth was pleased that we both got the "spirit" of the house. She said that if the Universe wanted us there, we would figure out a way to make my business run. She also said that while the official name of the cottage was something very practical, she had renamed it the "Grace and Integrity" cottage and thought that perhaps one day she would hand paint a sign to indicate this.

We left with promises to call her once we figured out if we could make everything work. It didn't take long for us to decide to contact our current landlord and let him know of our intent to break our lease. As long as we find a replacement tenant, we don't even have to pay a penalty. We have an ad up on Craigslist and so far, two people have expressed interest in coming to see our apartment. It's unexpected, it might be a little crazy, but I don't think I've ever been so excited about something in my whole life and I'm reminded that most of the time, the Universe operates outside of what I think is possible or makes sense. This gives me infinitely more hope for my job search and business goals. God is GOOD.