Post #2: Waking Up with the Neighbors

You never know what’s going to inspire your next (or in this case-- first real post), but it hit me like a locomotive as I was heading out the door on the way to work this morning.

My lease ended on my Columbia townhome this past August, and I decided it was time to quit renting and start looking to buy. Homeless I am not, due to our family farm being 30 minutes from downtown Columbia. I haven’t bought anything yet, this setup is too good to be true and I am the spoiled, youngest child in my family.

Mt. Hope Plantation

Mount Hope Plantation is an antebellum plantation, built in the mosquito cottage style by Dr. John Peyre Thomas in the 1830-40s. My grandfather was lucky enough to buy it from a Thomas descendant, Judge Alex Sanders in the 1980s.  It was in rough shape, none of the Thomas’ had lived in it for quite some time, so we restored it to the shape it is in today. Now, I’m calling living out there my “Walden Moment,” but I digress, enough about the house.

Per usual, I was off to a hectic start this morning – I left my freshly dry-cleaned pants in the car, along with my shoes, so living in the middle of nowhere and the closest neighbor being a half-mile away, I finished getting dressed in the front yard. Just that extra five minutes was enough to remind me how fortunate I am to live in this state.

In that brief period of time, two geese took flight from the pond down the hill and flew overhead, making anyone within earshot aware of their departure. Pollen covered my car, now my bare feet and everything else I touched. Finally, there was a slight movement that caught my eye: of course, it’s a flock of turkeys crossing the field in front of the house, moving from west to east through a food plot. I say “of course” because it’s opening week of turkey season and it is only appropriate to see turkeys when I’m getting in the car to go to the office. I’m sure they won’t be seen again until June, but the memory of this morning will be frozen in my mind for quite some time.