Nestldown

Way back then, when we were looking for a home for ourselves and our two infants, we envisioned a hilltop site with plenty of space to breathe and a ready-to-move-into home that we could call our own. Our realtors sent us here. It was 1991, and the place couldn't have been further from our description. The sight of an old fruit ranch with an aged house at the very bottom of a long driveway was enough for us to drive down, turn around, and go right back home. But our realtors convinced us to meet them back at the site and look inside. They took us on past the house, the mess, and the old barn roof still on the ground from the 1989 earthquake...into what we initially came to think of as the heart of the property: a quiet amphitheater surrounded by magnificent redwoods and looking out over a small, overgrown lake. There, in the center of the grove, we knew. This place didn't fit any of our criteria, but still - breathing deeply for the first time in a long time - we just knew. Sometimes our dreams evolve just as they should - and at that moment, we knew that this was the perfect place for us. The first decade was challenging: the clean-up required was huge, the house was unsafe, and we were both working demanding jobs in Silicon Valley. That winter we 'enjoyed' the worst weather in the Bay Area in 17 years, living in a retrofitted 300-square-foot apple-cooler shed that we made our home, with our infant and a toddler, three horses, 13 dogs (another story!), and serious time-management challenges. To this day, December 31, 1991 is our favorite New Year's Eve. We huddled on the tiny fold-out couch in our little shed with our two little ones and a bunch of dogs while the storm pounded outside and we watched comedy all through the night. The best ever.