Counting our blessings

(written on international day of happiness)

Every day, without exception, we count our blessings. It’s almost a chore, because there are so many. but not really.

This week a year ago, we saw our house online for the first time on a real estate agent’s website and we immediately fell in love with it. The fact that we were able to buy it during this pandemic is nothing short of a miracle. We spent months decorating it and making it our home, at 2150km distance from it, using computer simulation software, because of the covid19 restrictions. Now that we are here, we can turn all those plans into reality and the results are often better than what we had hoped for. Every space, inside and outside is pretty and we feel lucky to be the owners of such a wonderful place.

We are in awe with how the previous owner built this place with an incredible attention to detail. Not only the craftsmanship that makes every handmade door, wall or mantelpiece a piece of art, but also the work and love that was obviously put into every corner, nook and cranny of the grounds.

On top of that the view is lovely, the weather is great, it is quiet (traffic is virtually non-existent) and every night we can see billions of stars.

When we set out this plan to immigrate to a country with a better climate, growing our own fruit was part of the plan. Once we had bought this house, the seller sent us a list of all 180 trees on the property, which includes 80 fruit or nut bearing trees. We had no idea, even after viewing the house before we bought it, that there are so many. We feel so rich knowing that we won’t have to start with saplings and wait years to have our own harvest.

Music is important to us and every day we appreciate the sound system, which now produces great sound in every room aided by the good acoustics of the house. We now have speakers on the porch too, which makes that area even more pleasant.

We are so glad that the cats, who were our biggest worry when we moved, are not only happy here, they prefer to be around us and stay in or close to the house, despite the fact they could go anywhere.

We are also lucky with the fact that so far, everything we had budgeted has turned out to be cheaper than expected or not necessary at all. This means that our plan to live off of our savings is solid and we will not have to work anymore, effectively retiring at the right side of 60. We appreciate not having to get up early, get stuck in traffic, having to deal with less than pleasant colleagues, stressing over deadlines, attending meetings and conference calls and wondering if we generated enough income. We also appreciate that we can do what we want and like, get up whenever we want, take a stroll, have a swim (soon), not do something if we don’t feel like it and postpone it to tomorrow or next week. We have zero pressure, other than low blood pressure.

We spend 24 hours a day together and have done so for the last 3 years or so. During this pandemic we leave the house only once a week for groceries and then we are happy to be back home. To some people, that might feel suffocating, but we enjoy each other’s company and we can work well together. We can talk, laugh and cry together. We have similar taste in music, we can sit and do our own thing and not talk for a spell, we help each other wherever possible and we dance almost daily. We are so lucky to have this wonderful relationship.

Having both lost a partner, we appreciate every second we are alive and healthy. This realization strengthens our bond as well. Time is said to heal all wounds, but it is love that conquers all. And the love we feel for each other is intense and all encompassing.

The only difficult part of our plan to emigrate was to leave our family and friends behind. But then we are lucky again with modern technologies and we mail, text, call and Facetime with everyone whenever we want, so that the physical distance doesn’t feel so bad.

As we sit together in the evening, we talk about all these things and count our blessings.