A bit more than twenty years ago, my children, my husband and I moved out to a profoundly rural area. When we arrived, there were no restaurants, no pizza, no Chinese food, no internet, and often no police. We traded suburban life with all of its woes and temporary advantages to one with almost limitless space, where our kids could raise livestock, chase their chickens, truly explore hobbies, hike, and grow up with fewer distractions.
Our experiment worked. Our homeschooled kids were academically quite successful, and went on to college, and universities and were successful in the careers they chose. One of our children passed away, the result of a cardiac arrhythmic syndrome which had not been identified, and took his life one morning, this time of year, about eleven years ago.
In a sense as a tribute to the son who passed, we continued to live here. We needed to provide an excellent home to the animals our son had known. As if keeping a promise to him, we kept the homestead fairly similar to how it had been during his time here.
I can't help but notice that in the past few months, four families who were decidedly cornerstones to this area, have placed their homes or farms for sale. I tell myself that this is natural. Not everyone wishes to age in place. Some return to towns and cities in old age for ease of getting to the doctor or the pharmacy, at least. And yet, I am saddened to see these families leave. Some of them have been in the area longer than we have. Their departure will make our family the old timers in the area. This means we cannot avoid the realization that we all age, and that eventually, we will either depart from this area, or die here.
If I were to be honest, I would say that although I dislike the idea of dying in this place, I like the idea of leaving it all by choice even less.
