I know, I know, it’s the most boring email exchange ever. It’s so innocuous, so bland, so void of significance. But you know what it is? Of course you do. It’s the first email exchange (a hundred would follow) between me, Josh, and our realtor about Bellfern Homestead.
But of course it wasn’t Bellfern Homestead yet, it was just a property that we saw listed on Trulia, for sale by owner, and drove past one Saturday morning–something we’d done for a dozen listings over the past months. After our drive-by, we both kind of shrugged–you couldn’t see much from the road, except an absurd number of outbuildings, including a very trashy looking trailer (it would become the chateau). I can’t say either of us was excited or even very interested after that first drive-by.
Of course you know what happened next because we’ve been blogging about it for the past year, but what I love about this email, this snapshot in time, is that we did not know. We had no idea that when we viewed the house on a Thursday evening after work that we’d walk out onto the middle pasture and feel a certain settling in our stomachs, a certainty that yes, this was it. We didn’t know that our offer would be accepted even though it wasn’t the highest; that the closing process would miraculously sail through appraisal and inspection in spite of some glaring oddities (again, the chateau), that our own house would sell the instant we listed it with a cash offer that would make the whole thing possible.
I wanted to share this little exchange with you (which occurred one year ago yesterday) because it pinpoints the beginning of an era for Josh and me. I’m reminded that every significant decision in my life can be traced back, back, back to the beginning, and almost always, it starts with a casual conversation, a nearly thoughtless decision, a moment so banal that it wouldn’t otherwise be remembered.
What’s your origin story? Consider a significant decision or life event and see if you can trace it all the way back to the moment that set you on that course. Leave a comment with your story, if you’d like!
Bellfern Homestead 
Thanks for sharing your story. We have a great story about finding our farm as well but I’ll just say that we know the feeling of seeing it and knowing it was the right place – we were so certain that we bought and planted 9 fruit trees on the property (with the seller’s permission)before we closed on our farm.
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I love that! The seller was probably thrilled that you were so enthusiastic about the place.
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I love the term “origin story”. I’m a long-time gardener and always get that question from people who claim they don’t have a green thumb, asking me how I do it. And I remember when I got one of those awful upside down hanging ” topsy-turvy” tomato planters… While I had grown herbs in pots in the past and roses and tulips in the ground, I consider this goofy purchased my first foray into being a real gardener. Now many years later, with ducks in the backyard and a beehive and tons of fruits and veggies crammed into a 50×100 lot, it makes me giggle.
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