As we sit here waiting patiently for the close of escrow on the ranch we are learning to stay in the moment. Our new little home is feeing like the perfect place to do that. We are feeling settled and at home. We have wonderful landlords, and our next door neighbors are fabulous. They’re so sweet and have been so kind already. That alone would be enough to make us love living here. However, over the last week or two I’ve been falling in love more and more with our place.

We don’t have air conditioning, so in the afternoons and at night we have all the windows open with wonderful breezes flowing through the house and trees outside. I can hear the train whistle blowing at the nearby station. The doves who live in nearby trees coo in the mornings and evenings. A couple of afternoons we’ve heard mariachi music outside and there is something about it that makes me so happy. I love it. The life and culture here is filling my heart and making me realize what we’ve been lacking. Culture. We’ve been missing out on it.

Last weekend, Emma and I ran down the street to get ice cream from the ice cream man. We’ve been huge fans of the ice cream man for years. However, this ice cream man is far beyond anything we’ve been experiencing at our other house. When we walked around to the ordering side of the truck we were blown away! There were ice creams made with Lucas. Full soft serve cups, and cups that rivaled Foster’s Freeze ice creams. They were even selling Fritos and Cheetos bags of chips with chili on them. How can you decide!?  I felt like I was just introduced to the real world. I felt like we just got a taste of what life and people, and culture is really supposed to be like. Yeah, all of that from the ice cream man.

Seriously though, I can’t explain it but I feel like I’m right where I’m supposed to be. For the first time in an uncountable number of years, I know I’m exactly where I should be. In fact, I’m not sure if I’ve ever felt like this. In life we wonder what to do, where to go, and what God’s will is. I feel like when all of those things come together, this is what it feels like. The strangest part is I have no idea what tomorrow brings and I don’t even care. I’m totally in the moment and I don’t even know how I got here. We’ve been living this life and searching for the American dream and as soon as we gave all that up we found happiness. Peace. I know it’s not just me, because Steve and Emma just told me they feel the same way.

I honestly feel, the way I was raised, the place I grew up, and dreams I’ve had have brought me right to this place. The culture is what I’m the most comfortable with, the home size is how I grew up, and every need I have is being met. I literally feel like if life is a puzzle, I finally found all of my missing pieces. Everything is falling into place and I can’t even articulate what happened to make the difference.

Today, I live here, in this moment, in this neighborhood, listening to it’s sounds, enjoying it’s sweetness.