We have been looking forward to moving to Vermont for years. It has lived in our minds as an idyllic, peaceful, rural place. Stars at night. Trees. Lots of trees. Real winters with enough snow for snowshoeing and sledding. Not-too-hot summers. Kind, like-minded people. It has also, over time, become the potential answer to all our current problems and gripes.

“We won’t have to deal with traffic… when we live in Vermont”

“It won’t be so expensive… when we live in Vermont”

“We’ll be closer to family… when we live in Vermont”

These statements are actually true. But lately “living in Vermont” has evolved into the solution to everything, and I’m a little worried we got carried away with our expectations…

…To the two French horn players who live across the street and practice the same scales six hours a day, every day we say, “Bet we won’t live across the street from French horn players when we live in Vermont!”

…To the hundreds of ants that swarm on our kitchen counters we say, “Well, our house in Vermont won’t have an ant problem!”

…To the leaf blowers that come roaring through our neighborhood twice a week to blow the one little leaf on the sidewalk (because, God forbid a piece of nature touch the cement!) we say, “No leaf blowers in Vermont!”

…When it gets to be 11pm and we still haven’t done half the things on our to-do list we say, “There are three extra hours to each day in Vermont!”

The first two may be true, but there probably are leaf blowers in Vermont. I’m still holding on to hope that there are three extra hours to each day. But even if there are no leaf blowers in Vermont, there will surely be something else. As I prepare for my fantasy Vermont to meet reality Vermont, I wonder what I should expect.

And now some more pictures of our lovely neighborhood, the places that can’t be matched anywhere else… not even in Vermont.