10/03/10 - The Child Who Chose Us
I’ve never written about Deidra, our child who chose us, and I don’t know why. I suppose I have been too busy writing down sad things, poems and journal entries and blog posts about loss and suffering.
It’s time to write about Darling Deidra, and I will do it in installments to keep it from being unweildy. I have learned that lengthy blog posts can be off-putting just because we are all so busy and trying to read as many as we can. I sometimes skip the long ones and save them for last, and yes, sometimes I don’t get back to them.
When Clint and I bought our dream house on Dunbar Creek on Saint Simons Island, Georgia, a rambling one-room-deep tabby house designed by the builder for every room to have a view of the creek. It was empty, and the contents of our small condo unit on the island as well our little cottage in Macon would be dwarfed by it.
The double front doors opened into a mirror lined foyer that faced the back of the tabby fireplace in the great room. Walking around the fireplace, we found ourselves in a 35 square foot great room, octagonal and lined with windows offering panoramic views out over the deck, the dock, the marsh and the creek. Our eyes followed the vaulted ceiling for 40 feet, where a fan turned the air into a small breeze around us. When our eyes met the mirrored walls of the foyer, the marsh view stared back at us. The house stretched out to the right with dining and kitchen and bedrooms, an office and a loft. Down the hall to the left, a den, another bedroom and the master suite, perched out over the marsh. A deck wrapped around the entire structure. We had a shower deck off our bedroom.
We were happy. We were very happy.
But we needed furniture, and I wanted to buy some new dishes - a nautical theme to match our enchanting new home. So, off I went on a mission to find china before buying the first stick of furniture.
That’s when Deidra entered the picture. She was 22, recently graduated from Wesleyan College in Macon and working in one of the many design shops on the island. It was the first one I visited, and she helped me find the perfect dishes, but not before coming to the house the see the view and analyze the colors of the marsh. We planned the design work around my new dishes!
She was living alone and engaged to be married the next spring. and we, well, fell in love. She was born the year Clint and I married, so could have easily been our child.
Since Clint was on the golf course when she came over, I was crazy to have him meet her. I knew he would love her, too. So, a few days later, I took him, knees locked and skidding into the store, to shop for a pair of sofas.....
© cj Schlottman
The next installment can be found here.
4 comments:
I think I'm going to love this story and can't wait to read more. And I laughed out loud when I read that you picked china before furniture. Looking forward to the rest of this tale. Kat
I'm with Kat. You've got me totally captivated already!
=)
Hi CJ, I'm so intrigued for the next installment! Funny, too, my "Monday Rerun" today was about being adopted (though in my case it was a cat, and, unfortunately, it's one of those longer blogs you reference [I agree re difficulty in reading them when they're too long!]). As for decorating, 10 or so years ago, I painted my bedroom to match my red tabby cat. He passed since then, sadly, but his beautiful pumpkin hue will always be with me!
I love how you described the house. I could picture myself there walking through the rooms. It sounds like just the type of place I would love. Looking forward to more of this tale... E-mail me when it's up.
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