Sounds attractive, doesn't it? I am sure it had "BUY ME!" written all over it. At least it did for Jim.
Jim is not a negotiator. He never put in a counter offer. He just bought the dang place at its full asking price before having even put a FOR SALE sign on the home he already lived in. He was determined to make his new place "CAMP", a retreat for him during hunting seasons.
Jim successfully sold his other home and had been living in his "camp" when I met him. It was practically empty. He had only a few pieces of furniture. There were not even doors on some of the doorways, no trim anywhere in the house, or anything that made it feel homey. It really did feel like camp with just the basic necessities.
I had already owned my home a few miles away. It was a cute little house, but I too didn't like the noise of the highway or the lack of privacy from living in a neighborhood. My first marriage had failed in that house, and I was ready to leave it behind. But my house was homey and cozy and not campy. And it was my children's home where I celebrated some of their most important firsts.
When Jim and I decided to get married and have Jake we realized my little house was just that, little. And his house was, well, camp. So needless to say I was very reluctant to move in to camp in spite of us needing the extra space. What actually made the decision final was at Easter when I wanted to have an Easter Egg hunt for my very large extended family (shout out to the Ecelberger's), and we decided to have it at camp because there was ample parking and it was wide and flat and we could accommodate lots of people and lots of Easter eggs. So I made Easter dinner and had everyone here and my aunts and uncles were so complimentary of the place, to my shock.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am not better than a double wide, that's for sure. The only thing that made me leery of the place was its history and what the house had been through. But truly, the house didn't feel sad to me. It just needed loved. There are some really wonderful things about my home that I absolutely love such as my kitchen. It is big and I have a lot of storage and counter space and an island to prep my food or the kids can sit at. I love our big garden tub in the master bath that all 3 of my children can fit in at the same time. I love that it is a ranch style one level home. I love our in-floor heat. I love that I have a laundry room and mud room. I also have an entry way. These are all things that were on my list of things I wanted in my dream home someday.
We also finished the basement, which used to be just one long empty space the entire length of the house. Now it contains a very nicely finished space with my husband's man cave and trophy room, another large kitchen with lots of counter space and storage to put our canned goods, he has a gun room/reloading room, a huge man closet, a play room, 2 more bedrooms and a full bathroom.
Moving our family here has been one of the best decisions we have made as a family. It has created a new space for us to begin our journey as a blended family. We have painted and decorated it with all of the things that are special to us and if anything, it looks like anything but a camp. It is our home and we are proud of it. And we love it, and it loves that we are in it.
I am sure that not all of the hunting type of guys would take a week off of work to hunt in their back yard, drink beer in their own house, and spend time with their wives and children and call that hunting camp. If anything, I think most guys like that time away from all of those things to enjoy going away to camp. But that's one of the reasons why I love Jim so much. This is what he saves his vacation days for and looks forward to all year. And I am thankful that he loves hunting camp and I have my dream home.
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