My wife and I just bought our first home. After ten (11?) years living in the same neighborhood, we cut loose and moved two hours upstate, into a house with fruiting trees in the front yard, a big backyard, the sound of cicadas at night, and a troupe of bats that twirl in acrobatic wonder at each dimming of the day. It’s a far cry from our former busy Brooklyn street.
I’ve found myself waking every morning, making myself coffee, and settling into my favorite chair in the library we’ve built. Every morning, I read a few chapters of “The Lord of the Rings.