So we woke up this morning waterless, but with hope. The plumber was expected at 9:30a and water shortly after that. My son had a play date after school with the only other boy in his pre-school class. And I had an off site seminar.

The plumber was on time and extremely helpful. Turns out the water source pipe I thought I hit was some kind of drain pipe from the roof/attic. (The kicker — we actually could have had water all night long!) The translation from the plumber to my wife lost quite a bit when it got to me but bottom line was that if we didn’t drain it (which is what we, er, I did when I drilled into it) it would’ve eventually filled and the water would’ve gone to not so nice places. Supposedly it would have gotten taken care of and correctly routed when the basement gets finished but that has not happened yet. So in a way, this was a good thing we found out about it because it was something we needed to know about but didn’t. Silver lining in the cloud type thing. Now at least we can periodically drain it until we finished the basement off and properly route it to a regular drain.

My wife also had time to chat with the plumber who was from around here and knowledgable. More local info is always good. And the neighbor saw my son and his friend playing out in the front pasture so she brought over her son who my son loves. They all played together while my wife was able to spend her first conversation with the neighbor mom. We are slowly building our network back up. It is nowhere near where our CA support system is/was but it is a start and progress is being made.

And the weather today was absolutely gorgeous. The truck temp indicator read 72F on the way home from my seminar. I drove with the windows open all the way home. The downtown Louisville traffic with a few accidents was like a Sunday LA traffic drive — definitely nothing to complain about. From downtown in traffic to our quiet countryside home it only took 40 minutes. And that was driving at slow Kentucky speeds.

All of this will change tomorrow. We’re expecting colder temps and possible wet stuff. It’s supposed to snow this weekend. But at least I enjoyed it while the opportunity presented itself. I even got out on the patio and grilled some burgers and broke in my new smoker with some charcoal, water and hickory chips.

The TV didn’t come on tonight and instead I reviewed homework, chatted with the wife and played a few games with the kids.

The seminar I went to had a great positive impact and solidifies the direction we have been headed and brings it into tighter focus. I was doing quite a few of the things but more from a happenstance viewpoint and as individual habits. The seminar helped me add tools to the foundation we had already built and tied it all together for a greater purpose. For the first time here in Kentucky, I have a true peace and comfort with where we are, the direction we are headed and the pace we are taking. I would equate it to day 3 or 4 of a nice two week vacation. The planning and stress of all the changes and newness of the vacation are worn off and you can ease into the enjoyment and relaxation of the journey — enjoyment of the immediate present while optomistically looking forward to the future.

Now I know we still have quite a few challenges left. I haven’t talked about the disappointing school situation yet and there are a few other cards that have to still be played. And there will be valleys and challenges ahead. But all in all I have an extreme peace and inside satisfaction. I always hoped we would get to this point but at times I had extreme doubts. I am glad I hung in there. Nothing worth anything is easy.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net