One of my favorite movies is the Old version of The Secret Garden. It was one of 3 movies that my grandma would turn on for us when we went to visit (The other two were, A Little Princess and the Gift of Love). She had a painting of Mary Lennox on her wall and when She and Grandpa built a house next to ours, they landscaped a secret garden and tucked it between … well, if I told you, it wouldn’t be secret.

I liked Dicken in the story – a calm, gentle person that even endeared the animals to him and I liked Mary -as she became more likeable.  Mistress Mary began losing her sourness running across the moors and found contentment with the realization of life alive in the stillness outside.

Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse

Life running across the moor has been our globetrotting together. So much discovery of life outside the manor. So many sites and sounds. So many versions of stillness like the long New Hampshire beach pressed with dimming fog, the quiet beacons of lower lights on the shores of Maine, the luring hills and hues of Vermont or the heart dropping stillness of Gettysburg and Arlington.

And, so many versions of commotion like hundreds of seagulls scattering before a storm on Lake Erie, or Bostons bustling sidewalks and cobblestone streets, or the Mississippi grass wet and alive with miniature frogs and spiders.

Climbing out

Awesome kiva

We lived it together.

But as with Mary, something else was yet to be discovered. Mary had a robin, a cheeky little beggar who could see things she couldn’t see and it compelled her to follow. Mary was given hints and clues that she was onto something special, including a key (“And if there is a key, there must be a door”). Although not with a cheeky little beggar, we too began to recognize hints and signs that were leading us away from the moor and toward “a bit of earth.”

Melancholy, fear and anticipation accompanied our efforts of overturning stones. One answer would lead to new questions but all answers were leading us here.

To Funky Blue.

Funky Blue is the name our new house received for being a little funky and, well, blue. Thirty-five minutes away from where we launched last year, and nestled near the mountains, we discovered the secret garden. There is a new version of stillness and commotion here and it is alive with the possibilities of life.

Did I mention we really did find a secret garden here? It took us about three weeks to find the covered door in the wall.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6