I want to share with y’all a blog post, and a trip, from what now feels like another life. Almost six years ago, Andrew and I spent our belated honeymoon on the coast of Massachusetts. It was a transformative experience that helped open the path we are on today. Andrew had never been to New England, but I had been pining over the region since visiting a few years prior. In addition to simply wanting to be in its presence again, I wanted my new husband to fall in love with it like I had. And if I was lucky, he’d want to move there as much as I not-so-secretly did (Spoiler alert: I was, indeed, lucky).
When I wrote the following post almost five years ago, we were still living on our farm in Virginia, and typing it all out while also looking back through all the photos I had taken during the trip was a way for me to reminisce and transport myself back to a place my heart was always yearning for. I remember my heart aching a bit as my brain converted the memories into words. We were fortunate to have our farm in Virginia, but it didn’t feel like home. For whatever reason, New England did. Thankfully, it still does.
I am so grateful to now look back on those words and photos and feel only happiness that (1) we had a wonderful time, (2) it helped us figure out more-so what we wanted out of life, and (3) we now live in New England and have since visited those places again several times. In the post, I mention that we spent an evening looking at New England real estate. What I didn’t mention was that I felt a bit sad while doing so. At the time, the possibility of us moving to New England felt incredibly far away. I remember sighing as I looked through listings and thinking, Maybe moving to New England can be part of our five year plan. I sighed again and thought, That probably isn’t going to happen. Better make it a ten year plan. We followed the opportunity to move to New England only 2.5 years later.
Before letting you finally read the post itself, I’ll also mention that Marblehead, which features prominently within it, still holds an incredibly special place in our hearts and we hope to move there someday. We adore Connecticut, but Marblehead is the place which is always in our dreams. When I read back over these memories, however, I don’t feel the sad longing I did before. Now that I live in a place I love, regardless of it not being Marblehead, I’m just happy and grateful to be along for the ride and to be enjoying it.
Within a novel, the setting is generally an important and essential part of it. Within my life, I have always felt the same. So here’s to all the places we’ve loved, whether we’ve visited them, lived within them, or simply dreamed of them.
To my time-travelling companions,
Lara
awefaring 
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