The Teeniest of First Steps

After the Crazy Month of October, we'd agreed that the far more relaxed month of November would be a good time to begin taking some steps toward The Farm Dream.

It's a dangerous dream, this farmy one of mine. If I'm not careful, I can spend hours daydreaming about our Farm Life-To-Be. Acreage. Animals. Barefoot little girls wandering through rows of vegetables. It's an easy dream to get caught up in. It's also not an easy one to realize.

But today, we took the first step. We called a mortgage lender to begin the process of pre-approval. Tomorrow, we'll have an actual price range to work with, and we can start chatting with a real estate agent.

It's the teeniest, tiniest of first steps. But it's a step.

A farm? Can we really handle a farm?

Sure we can. If anyone can, it's us. Right? I mean, maybe. I hope so.

I keep reminding myself it could still be a Very Long Time before this becomes any sort of reality. Selling a house takes ages these days. Finding another house could take as long... or longer, if we end up building. No reason to get all excited. This is a long, slow process. We're talking maybe even years.

Don't get excited. Don't get excited. Don't get excited.

I'm not excited. I swear. Those daydreams aren't sneaking into every waking moment of my daily life. I promise, they're not.

Don't get excited. Don't get excited. Don't get excited.

My heart isn't set on plowing fresh ground in the spring. I'm not thinking about packing. I'm not looking at advertisements on Craigslist for horses. Or goats. Or anything else.

Don't get excited. Don't get excited. Don't get excited.

I'm not even sure we're ready for this. Really farming? I mean, not really farming. Still hobby-farming. We're not ready to make a living this way. Yet. But it'd be a lot closer than the homestead-in-the-city we're currently farming. It'd be a whole lot more work than what we've got now. Really? Are we really sure we're ready to take this on? Huge, huge responsibility.

For Heaven's sake, I'm practically panicking. And all I've done is call a mortgage broker. There is absolutely no good reason to be getting all worked up yet. It's just one teensy, tiny little step.

Still not getting excited. Really. I'm not!