80 Acres

80 acres of paradise. Snow covered paradise. Roughly 2 to 3 feet of it. Deep green pine trees dusted with snow and frosted lightly. Bare birch trees covered in an icy glaze, frosted. A herd of about 45 bison across the road. The road with no name, just many numbers. The highway that nobody ever goes down. The national park 2 minutes away, with animals of all kinds inside. The animals on the farm. The 14 dogs, the 20+ cats and kittens, the geese, the ducks, rabbits, 5 goats, a llama, many chickens, a wild boar, 9 horses, a foal, a filly, a pony. A herd of cattle, a few pigs, and an indoor dog and cat. Coyotes in the trees in the backyard. A mountain in my backyard. And a lake. An orchard of spindly trees, frosted. A flower garden, dormant. A vegetable garden waiting for spring. Some more fruit trees. Another vegetable garden, this one huge, more than an acre. An old train stop, now a place where chickens and sometimes the ducks and geese live. An old house, long ago fallen apart, but somehow still standing. Somewhat. More trees and paths that only my father and I can follow. Somehow, my mind still remembers every path. A long driveway, up up up the hill, leading to the house. The house that my parents bought when I was three. The house I grew up in. Still a home.

I remember all of this like I am still ten years old and living here. I know this place better than the back of my hand, I could walk anywhere here blindfolded, because I just know. I thought eventually I might forget a lot of this stuff, but I haven't, and I hope I never will, because this place is my childhood.

Nick, the kids, and I. We are here for 9 days. Visiting my parents. I'm trying to show my kids all of it, it's impossible, both because I am hugely pregnant and there is so much to show. But I'm still trying. There have been snowball fights, many animals visited, and Nick is taking Sera and Theo exploring right now. When it gets cold the kids go to the basement an play hide and seek, occasionally coming upstairs with an item I treasured during childhood. It's amazing to watch them discover it all. And when they're tired for a few minutes, there's always Baba and Papa, waiting with hot chocolate and yummy food, and a bookcase full of movies that I grew up watching. I may live elsewhere, far away, and consider it home. But this is also a home. It's like I never left.