I was so against moving into the rental house (If I showed you the photos we took after the last tenants left you might understand a little) but so far it's turned out to be such a good place to regroup and catch our breath. I've been setting up a little bit of a nursery for the babies, just something simple for now, but it warms my heart to see a little space just for them. There is also space and daylight in the garage so I've just put in my order for more silver and can't wait to start creating again.
The rental house is on hilly terrain which is nice for living but makes the morning jog significantly more arduous. Sometimes when I'm feeling lazy I'll drive a few miles down the road to the Wood River wetlands and head down the dyke. It's been so pretty this last week with the late summer golden browns and smoky sky.
Denver got the exterior walls put up on the river house. I love watching the house take place, checking out what the view looks like from the window spaces, imagining early mornings and late evenings out on the deck. The goal is to give the house some old-fashioned cabin flair (which to me means a little more rustic with darker tones) so it will be a good challenge to see what we can come up with on our budget.
Both of our parents have helped us so much these last few months from free equipment rentals (excavators, lifts, scaffolding and trailers) to volunteer hours at the job-sight and extra hands with the twins. It's been a bit humbling but also so so appreciated. Without all of the help we would never of been able to make it this far on the building project let alone move into the rental on such short notice.
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Denver listens to audio with a voracious appetite at the job-sight and will text me links to different podcasts he thinks I will enjoy. Last week he sent me a link to a Fresh Air interview with Ariel Levy, a writer who was 19 weeks pregnant when she miscarried in a hotel room while on assignment abroad. Her son was born alive, lived for ten minutes and died in her hands. The interview is fascinating and heart-wrenching. Ariel is per her words "passionately pro choice," but I can't help but feel that the excerpt that she shares from her memoir offers the most beautiful description and witness to the value of human life at 19 weeks gestation.
"I felt an unholy storm move through my body, and after that there is a brief lapse in my recollection; either I blacked out from the pain or I have blotted out the memory. And then there was another person on the floor in front of me, moving his arms and legs, alive. I heard myself say out loud, “This can’t be good.” But it looked good. My baby was as pretty as a seashell. He was translucent and pink and very, very small, but he was flawless. His lovely lips were opening and closing, opening and closing, swallowing the new world. For a length of time I cannot delineate, I sat there, awestruck, transfixed. Every finger, every toenail, the golden shadow of his eyebrows coming in, the elegance of his shoulders—all of it was miraculous, astonishing. I held him up to my face, his head and shoulders filling my hand, his legs dangling almost to my elbow. I tried to think of something maternal I could do to convey to him that I was, in fact, his mother, and that I had the situation completely under control. I kissed his forehead and his skin felt like a silky frog’s on my mouth." - The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy
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