“Teaching by example” not only instructs but usually offers tremendous encouragement. Most people who’ve made the transition from urban (or suburban) to country living have fascinating stories of how they made it happen for themselves. This is the first of a series of examples I’ll b
e sharing about folks who did it.
Before Doug and Jenny could re-paint their house, the city zoning board had to approve the choice of colors. Although they had grown accustomed to—and to some extent even appreciated—the enforced charm of their Sandwich, Massachusetts neighborhood, a long-dormant dream awakened in both of them on a visit to Southern Middle Tennessee.
A hundred acres of land was for sale directly across a secluded country road from some of their best friends of the previous 20 years. Doug envisioned establishing a retreat center to share his love of peace and beauty with others who, like himself at the time, had experienced mainly the trappings of urban America. Jenny loved the quiet beauty and closeness to God that seemed so much more accessible away from town. They knew before heading back to Cape Cod what they wanted to do, but when “point A” lies at a settled life in the Northeast and “point B” is an unknown world in the Mid-South, getting from one to the other seemed insurmountable.
Yet there are ways.
It started with “creative financing.” The problem is typical: Equity tied up in one property that has to be sold before another can be purchased. Through a fairly involved study of real estate investment, I’ve learned a number of potential solutions, but for Doug and Jenny it came in the form of another set of close friends who caught a vision for the Massachusetts-to-Tennessee plan, had available funds, and were willing to buy the land and hold it for Doug and Jenny until they could unwind their life on the East Coast.
Over the several months following their Tennessee vacation, friends bought the land and committed to re-sell it to Doug and Jenny, Doug wrapped up his successful private practice as a clinical psychologist, they marketed their house (which quickly sold!), and found a home to rent in Tennessee just five miles from where they would eventually build a house on their own land. The “step of faith” required to give up a fine life in a fine place to “move to the country” was rewarded as Doug plowed (so to speak) through the arduous process of getting re-licensed in a new state to practice his trade and ended up in a prosperous combination of new work opportunities.
Ten years later, the trials they’ve faced still threaten to unravel the life they’ve built in rural America, and it remains to be seen whether or not any sort of retreat center will ever exist on their 100 acres. But Doug, Jenny, and their four children (three now adults and out of the house), have all grown in precious ways that likely wouldn’t have happened anywhere else. Their attitude toward the struggles of making life in the country work for them is the same as most everyone I know who has tried: “It’s been worth it.”
(Last week, I ran across another blog with some solid thoughts about the commitment and endurance needed to accomplish anything that’s really worth doing. Check out Chris Guillebeau’s post “Worth It All”: http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/worth-it-all/)
If you happen to have come to Creative Country Views from somewhere other than the Creative Country Living website, please be sure to check out our FREE online magazine about rural and agrarian life at: http://creativecountryliving.com/
Creative Country Views 