What does that mean to you, looking for home? I think I have been looking myself. There is a quality you look for in the environment, an intangible sense of gain; everyone extending the bounty of richness to their neighbor. I personally believe that is how true wealth is created, by sharing it and therefore increasing that wealth as a community.

I have learned that the only way you get anything in this world is by a complete willingness to give it away. The people here, for the most part, have this intangible wealth and I want to be apart of that. This community has a real opportunity to become our home.

The house we are sitting for is unique, the floor plan custom, and even the airflow from the central heating and cooling flows differently then other places we have stayed at. Craig and Jane were very welcoming; Jane took us on a grand tour of the the surrounding area; Craig showed me his craftsman side with his talent for making wooden bowls, sculptures and even a high fluted goblet meant more for sipping something potent or rich than regular fare.

It’s only day one, but Rainie, our charge, is regale in demeanor, and has been willing to share space with us and the next morning she visited us in bed for first contact petting. Rainie has her own chair, that Jane and Craig have also allowed to become a makeshift scratch-post. Say what you will, it works, none of the other furniture is ever bothered with. That’s surprising to me because there is an abundance of wooden furniture throughout the house. Rainie also distinguishes herself by having thumbs that are in fact functional.

Even on my first day, even with the introductions, which can be clumsy at times, I felt at peace in Jane and Craig’s home. Bookshelf’s are found throughout the house, with a wide variety of topics. Pictures too; Jane has this collage of Craig and Jane’s lift tickets from all the years they skied, and by the looks of it, they have been doing this most of their life. Craig felt Jolly in these various screen shots of his life, and Jane had this fierceness in her eyes.

During our tour of the local neighborhood, I noticed the people here seem to have good shoes, and equipment, and it’s more rare to see an obese person than not to. All in all Bend Oregon seems a good fit for balanced purposeful living.

What gifts they extended to us! When you receive little gold nuggets like that, how can you not be tempted to settle down and add to the community? We don’t have to live in a constant state of competition, We can choose to live by extension sharing everything, including our intangibles, with everyone else.

I will be walking through some fear and doubt; questions of how to practically generate income while also fulfilling this need for freedom. I want to make a living writing because I love doing it. I have some serious doubts that haunt me, but that’s not going to stop me. Jane has given me some pointers on where to start and I am going to give it a real go to become part of this community. I remain hopeful that faith and Love will overcome any obstacle, including fear and doubt. I just met these people, and what a gift they have given us. I know what happiness and fierceness is and I learned it from a couple we met in Bend Oregon. I was looking for home, and think I just found it.

If you have never traveled house to house, place to place, you might not even know what home really feels like. Without contrast of experience I’m not sure you could honorably describe home. We have been to many locales and all of them had elements Melissa and I are looking for, but this is the first place that feels like an old pair of worn in jeans. It just fits. We tried leaving before, moving to other pet sits, but here we are, again, and we didn’t force it either, fate or God has been guiding us, and it has felt as much because of that effortlessness.