What a difference a year makes!

Today we  can say we have been islanders for a year. What a year it has been! When we picked up the keys to our new home we had no idea what life as ‘Overners’ would really be like. We knew we had enormous amounts of work to do on the house, but it was hard to grasp it all at that moment. 

Those early days were dark, brown, smelly days, full of demolition, skips and tar. Days of hazard suits, and scary electrics.

But they soon passed, and we began to see the light, gradually we washed, stripped, emptied and began to rebuild. We took out walls, insulated walls, sanded and filled walls (oh did we sand and fill walls).

We know every inch of this home, from top to bottom, it is part of us, and we are part of it.

We had moments of joy from the little things in life, and moments of pain we never want to repeat, but we both feel this is our home, really our home.

Not just a house, or where we live, but somewhere we love being, it is small, but feels spacious, it is light but cozy. Everything here we have created, chosen, built. It has taken a whole year to finish, and knowing us, we will find other jobs to do, but it is done. 

From dark and brown to light and sunny, it reflects how we feel most days.

But moving here has given us so much more than a home we love. Most days, at some point one of us says ‘isn’t this fabulous?’ or ‘I feel like we are on holiday every day’ or ‘we are so lucky  to live here'. Of course it isn’t luck, it’s years of planning, saving, taking scary leaps of faith and accepting life doesn’t always follow the path you want, but making the most of the one you have. 

I remember at about 25yrs old I was asked by a pension advisor when would be my ideal retirement age? At that point life was hard, money was really tight, but I confidently said 55 at the latest. As a cancer nurse I had the privilege to get to know far too many people who worked their whole life, not doing things, not taking time to spend with the people they loved, so they could do things in retirement. But they didn’t have that amazing retirement they had dreamed of, some of course went on to live a lot longer, but many didn’t. I didn’t want that to be the story of my life.  For very different reasons Ian too wanted to stop working early, and to live by the sea, and here we are! Doing just that. Ok, I am working, but not permanently, and only  part time. We have more days to explore, spend time together, create things and try something new, than I work each week and early next year, we hope to head off  in Agy, still to be by the sea, but by a slightly warmer one for the worst of the winter. 

Island life has given us some amazing new friends, fabulous days out, and the opportunity to try things most people only get to do once or twice a year, but for us, they are here every day. We’ve had a few visitors, and a few more are booked in to come soon. We do miss friends we used to see more often, of course we do. But we also know we are living a dream, and are thankful for that every day. If you ever fancy a bit of island paradise, hop on over, we’d love to see you.