It’s ten days before Christmas and I’m looking out the window at a gray rainy day. My first thought of the day was, it’s a good day to finish the year in review. And on a grey rainy day, it’s the perfect time to think about the good stuff.
The season started off with the strangest weather we have seen in many years. April brought an early Spring and gave us sunshine and barbeques on the deck. Something we all needed after the long Covid Winter.
The Warriors kicked off the season with chili dogs on the deck and repairing Julie and Gary’s place. A group of Warriors that Julie and Gary had never met, rebuilt their kitchen disaster. By the time Summer was over they not only got to know them but those same people became their Canadian family.
When the border finally opened allowing Julie and Gary to arrive, they brought with them their son-in-law Jeremiah. Within a few days, he also becomes family.
I smile to myself each time I think of him. He wasn’t too positive about Julie and Gary buying a cottage up in Canadian Land. But with the few days he was here, he too felt like he belonged here and as much as he missed his family, he wasn’t running to get on the plane to go home. Next year, he’ll be coming back, only this time he’ll bring his family.
I would like him to know, I now have a jar of pickled asparagus in the frig. It nowhere compares to the ones he and I had at the restaurant the four of us discovered in that wonderful little town while he was here.
That restaurant we discovered has become somewhere that the Warriors go for dinner on a regular basis. The owners are welcoming. The town is lovely to look at and the patio is a nice place to be on a hot evening when no one feels like cooking.
While Jeremiah was here, he officially became a Warrior when he not only came to put on a roof on our neighbor’s cottage but also by giving me a hand at our cottage.
Along with him, we added Earl and Ellie to our wall of fame who both came up many days to take over the grill and make sure the Warriors were fed when all the construction was going on.
And so our Warrior family grew by six this year with adding Carla, Christina, Nelson, Earl, Ellie, and Jeremiah.
The partially finished enclosed porch with its table that seats eight became the place of many meals this year. But the front deck was needed to feed our tribe of Warriors as we passed the seating capacity of the enclosed porch on many occasions.
We celebrated three anniversaries, many birthdays and a welcome to Canada, and a couple of good-bye till next year on those decks.
The chiminea was added to the front deck and became a place to sit and have a fire when the group was smaller and not needing the big fire pit in the yard. Many glasses of wine were consumed there. Much laughter was shared there and many long talks while staring at the stars were experienced with the sound of the wood crackling from the fire in the background.
The garden was the center of much this season. I met many new neighbors standing by our Jurassic Park Garden admiring it. The Warriors built it, worked in it, and enjoyed the fresh vegetables grown in it. We also fed many of our neighbors from it. I don’t think anyone was spared clean hands when they came to visit, nor did they look unhappy about working on it.
When it came to the beach this year, I’m not sure who enjoyed it more, the fur babies or the Warriors. When I close my eyes I can still see Romeo giving Sherri an involuntary swimming lesson as he swam through the water with her in tow and the sound of her laughter.
That day at the beach has inspired my additional design for the cottage. In the next few years, there will be an outside shower built. Two dogs and four adults bring a lot of sand in the house after a day on the beach and this inspired the idea.
When I sit and look back, I know when I met each of the Warriors and how they became part of our life. I don’t remember the exact time that I introduced each to each other. I only know that if they were introduced to each other it was because I knew they would like and respect each other.
The Warriors are all different from each other. They have different lifestyles, jobs, and responsibilities. They also have diffrent religions, diffrent obligations, and diffrent goals, and yes, diffrent opinions. But what they have in common is their goodness, their care, and their ability to respect each other.
Are they perfect… If you ask me… I’ll tell you, Yes. They are each perfect in their own ways.
When I look back at 2021 and what was good, it’s not the cottage that is the blessing. It’s the people who we are blessed to have in our lives and the fact that they are blessed to have each other in their lives.
It’s the kindness and support given to each other. The welcoming of meeting someone new and making them family by saying hello.
The only credit I give to myself is introducing the Warriors to each other. The rest goes to them as it is their goodness that makes each of them who they are and perfect in my eyes.
So with the grey days and the sad things, 2021 still turned out to be a good year because the love at the Love Shack will always win.
Thank you to the Warriors who make every day better for us and each other. Thank you to the Warriors who made the grey days and hard days bearable. But mostly for making all the other days rememberable.
Thank you to our bloggers who share your stories with us. Thank you for following us and staying with us when you too are having a grey day, a hard day, and a good day.
Building The Love Shack 