Building The Love Shack

 

We checked our cell phone last night and there was a message on it. It had been left early in the morning. The front screen door was open on the cottage. The door seemed to have damage on it. The neighbor didn’t want to go in, in case something had happened or the cottage was broken in.

It was now 1030 at night. We called the neighbor back and got no answer.

At 1045 last night Jodi and I drove to the cottage as the husband didn’t want me to go up alone. It was dark, most of the cottage have been closed up and we were calling for rain and he had to leave for work at 5 AM.

So off she and I went to check on the cottage.

We arrived at the cottage at midnight. The other cottages were dark and no one was around. Our neighbor had gone home.

We pulled into the driveway and left the car lights on facing the cottage. We did an external walk and then checked the front door. The screen door was indeed broke. The piston on the door had come separate from the house.

The front door was locked. We checked inside the cottage, going through each room. We checked the back door and it was locked along with the back screen door.

All was well. The door must have gotten opened by the wind storm the past few days at the lake.

I text the husband so he would go to bed and Jodi and I drove back home.

It was a nice quiet drive back and forth. We saw only a couple of cars and a fox and then some deer.  At 2 Am we were back home with peace of mind and Christmas dinner was planned along the way.

I was told by many neighbors that they had to come up to check on something at strange times. This is the first call to have to check the cottage in the three years we have had her. The trip was worth the peace of mind.

A special thank you to our neighbor who was watching out for us and to Jodi for getting out of her jammies to drive in the dark to check on the Love Shack and make sure I was safe while doing it.

Cottage life is different from the big city. It reminds me of the small town I grew up in, where neighbors checked on neighbors.

Each time something happens, it reminds me of why I love small towns and how much I miss living in one. My big city boy, the husband, is now starting to get the feel of small-town life after growing up in Toronto and Rome and is starting to understand why one day we should live at the lake.

Cottage life has changed us. It’s not just a place we go to get away from the city anymore. It has become part of who we are and how we see life.

In the city, after living in the same house for fourteen years, we know a few of the neighbors, at the cottage we know many of our neighbors.

There is something to be said about the specialness of the small town life.

Thanks again to our neighbor who is alway watching out for us.