I want a log cabin with a broad veranda looking out over the grass strip alongside the burbling trout stream at the foot of the mountains. With neighbors nowhere in sight, until you want them there for a toddy to watch the sun go down, the horses neighing in the pasture, the whitetails just there in the thicket, the bird dogs snoring by the fire. They’ve had a busy day.
I want perfect weather. I don’t mind a little rain when the mood strikes, and I’ll even accept some snow flurries so long as they’re gone in the morning. I’ll tolerate one bead of sweat on the 4th of July. Just the one.
I want a 200-HP Husky in the hangar. With glass.
I want a nice paved road, curvy and with trees hanging over it, to spin the bicycle over on an autumn’s day. And a jogging path by the river that leads to nowhere in particular, but on and always on. Leading you back home again without ever having to retrace your steps.
I want to not know where that path is leading. I want coming home again to be a welcome surprise.
I want the 38-foot sloop on a lake with no horizons that’ll take me to Tahiti. And a library of good books to keep me busy when I’m tired of the tiller, letting the autopilot do its magic. And I want my girlfriend in the cabin, happy and contented. Like the kids are, now that they’re all grown up and successfully on their way.
I want to not be in a hurry, while watching the sand run out.
I want the time and space to read and think. I wouldn’t mind a little time to set things down. For after.
I want to get it all right.
Two questions for you:
Is that too much to ask?
What do you want?
You pretty much got my list of the unobtainable that I would love to have. I’d settle for the house by the grass airstrip, however.
and don’t forget..Good health..
and Grandkids..coming to visit..not stay..just visit..lol
Heck,
I’d just like to have the log house by the lake with a small boat house and dock. Enough room in the back to put down a helo.
Should be room enough for one of these, too, in case someone comes by to disturb the peace.
I want a stone farmhouse, surrounded by the pinot noir vineyards of the Côte-d’Or, between Dijon and Beaune. I want a 2CV, with a pullback roof, for runs into town to the boulangerie for fresh bread and crossiants, and to Carrefout for the big stuff. I want to have the TGV for the weekend trips to Paris, at 300 KmPH. I want to spend evenings at small restaurants, with great wine, and good conversation — what the Italians call il dolce far niente. But I also want an AFN converter box to watch the early season football games! Won’t go completely native.
Then, for October to April, I want a condo overlooking the emerald green waters of the Florida panhandle. Big enough for grandkids to visit, but not for too long. I want to be able to spend holidays with them, and not be ten hours away by plane. I want the healthcare I earned easily available at first class military facilities, nearby.
I want to not worry about the finances to enjoy the end of the journey, with my best friend close by. I hope I’m not considered selfish because we both worked hard to earn that peace of mind as we play out our hands.
I just want my second son to graduate from college. I’ll figure the rest out when I get him off my back.
Babs — sorry to break it to you, but graduating college doesn’t necessarily mean you get them off your back.
Not that I haven’t tried!
Babs/
Scott’s right. Remember, there is always grad school…..just for starters.
No, it’s not too much to ask – go for it. Me, I want my wife to be as proud of me as I am of her. I want my reach to exceed my grasp, new horizons, and old friends. I want another deployment or two from which we all return, not necessarily unchanged but unharmed. I want to be able retire and fly for a living, and just maybe I’ll get me that R-44 some day. And I guess a grass strip so my VTOL challenged friends can fly in and visit.
I want a cheeseburger and a very cold budweiser.
Hmm… sounds like somebody has just about everything he wants. Or else he’s demonstrating a severe lack of imagination.
I’m just more of a “live for the moment” kind of guy. Not very good with long term planning..
Thomas Kinkade captured my image of the perfect place. We have the picture over our fireplace, I dream of living in a place just like it – as long as I can figure out how to get high speed data connection to it
(satellite is way too slow)
http://www.kraftmstr.com/kinkade/k108m/index.html
Tom, you’ve just pictured my perfect retirement home. ‘Cept anywhere that place is will have 4′ of snow on it in the winter and in my dotage I’d much prefer to remain indoors by the log fire reading a book than shoveling snow.
So, add in two minor additions and I think it’s about perfect.
1) 140hp worth of tractor, with loader and snowblower attached, to make easy work of those heavy lifting jobs the way God and Harry Ferguson intended.
2) A machine shed. Nothing major, just enough to store the tractor, the tools to keep it in repair, and the machine tools necessary to keep me from going totally bonkers with boredom in retirement. 60×40 ought to do it. Make it well-insulated. With a wood stove using forced air to heat the place and a propane backup system just in case.
Oh, and carve out an office in it, with a desk and a cot and a little fridge. So when the wife is on a tear I can repair to my lair and enjoy some of that peace and quiet I came here for in the first place.
On second thought, I don’t really need the cabin so much.
– Max
Max, if you have that lovely little shed (and it does sound perfect), but don’t get the cabin, doesn’t that mean that the wife will be in the shed “helping?”
I’d be happy just to be able to run again.
Major,
I’d be content to live long enough to see my youngest graduate, and to have a day every now and then free from pain.
But there are others worse off than me, so I take it all in stride as best I can.
Those two things would be blessings indeed.
I understand that desire Major.
1971, car accident, passenger, wife driving, honeymoon night enroute from Michigan to Mountain Home AFB, spent three months at Fitzsimmons Military Hospital in CO learning to walk again.
One of the best things that ever happened to me. Still appreciate, every day, the joy of walking.
Dittos RS. 1978 car crash, three months in hospital, six months in wheel chair all leading to hip replacement eight years ago but am glad to still be ambulatory. Could’ve been worse, there are many much worse off than I.
Hornetgunner, during my short stay at Fitz, it was still a time when many guys were returning from SEA, some in very bad shape. My condition was but a trifle compared to most of theirs.
I truly was humbled by being with them, and their sharing a little bit of their lives with me.
Lex, I clicked on your site thinking how long it had been since we’d had one of your beautiful “slice of life” posts, or something more in a story vein. And then I opened it to this… just lovely. I’m still smiling.
And I loved reading the replies, too. Some interesting and complex (but simple in the right ways) people here. And some, like MAJ Harvey to pull us up short and remember how lucky we are…
As for me, I too tend toward the simple. I’d settle for somebody to come home to–doesn’t matter as much what home is or what’s outside the door. Seems to me it’s easier to settle for less then a dream world if there’s someone to share the ups and downs with.
Here I go, stepping on Lex’s coattails again…
I want to be that neighbor, just around the bend, or over the hill. I want a Tuscany-style villa (modified for the Pacific Northwest), with a well stocked wine cellar, a full larder, and an open invitation to the world (Single story, easy to get around for all of my friends, so that even the ones missing pieces and parts can move about with ease.)
I want evenings of merriment, when old warhorses gather to regale one another with stories of derring do, and then, with the next breath, tell a mundane tale of the present day, so that it is clear that, even with the most exciting days behind them, that the best days still lay ahead, and that they are “doing all right”…
I want to be the gracious host, hand in hand with my beloved, and watch as the tranquility of my home inspires my friends and their other halves to stroll among the gardens, embrace romance, and fall in love all over again…
The beauty of this dream is that it is doable…
And not too much to ask…
Oh, B. Beautiful.
Sgt. B, Col. Cooper often wrote about the affairs he’d have, called the Teddy Roosevelt Reunions. Your prose provided exactly the same mental image as his words did for me nearly 20 years ago.
I my mind’s eye I see gentlemen and ladies, dressed in appropriate dinner clothing, mingling with an air of educated and animated, though not loud, conversation over a topic familiar to all.
Sort of the wine-and-cheese set I’m asked to be part of at the gallery, only with more interesting topics of conversation and better grammar. A stage set right out of evenings spent at The Club from the 1930′s, before the idiot box lured us to stay at home and kill brain cells by subjecting them to lack of exercise.
Sadly, those clubs no longer seem to exist as social organizations, and are instead focused around the pursuit of leisure activities. Pity, that.
You’ve taken me back to a bygone age, and for that I thank you. It is my wish that you can make that age happen again, at least for those friends you host each evening.
– Max
Max, if I can make it happen, you and all who miss such days are more than welcome…
Lex,
About the only thing I’d change, is make that a 70′ Santa Cruz for when I feel competitive and a 95′ motoryacht with the GF enticing me belowdecks.
W16 for sale, 2,500′ of runway and a summat going concern. 7 hangars on the lot, 6 of which are subdivided for the locals to rent. The aviation hobbyist would be found there in various and sundry hours, bent on nothing else but for to make the beast airworthy once again. Ahhh…and so they dream.
Across the street is found the abode of Evergreen State Fairgrounds, the initials of which, strangely enough, are those of my own name. Eastward on SR-2 are found the Cascade mountains, where once the Intruder folx used to prowl and prance; no forest grove safe from their talented forays.
Westward is found the abode of CVN-72, and those parts of Puget Sound where one may meander with one’s sailing contraption and find the solace seldom found elsewhere.
The smell of the grass, the unobstructed view of the sky, the house with the swimming pool on the north side. Simple fare for a simple mind.
A simple walk across the street to a horse show, or, even better, the weekend stock car races. Firewerks on a summer’s eve at the end of race day. Once concluded, the still of the night, broken only by the occasional passing of a train not a 1/4 mile away.
Dare one aspire for such simple pleasures?
Ah yes, indeed. Simple, simple, simple. Why complicate matters?
Girlfriend?
Does Mrs. Lex read your blog?
First thing I thought too. Then I realized he must be referring to The Hobbit as the “girlfriend”. Sweet, when you think about it.
I thought your wife was supposed to be your permanent girlfriend. Was I mistaken, or merely old fashioned? Perhaps both?
She was my girlfriend before we got married. She’s my girlfriend still.
Bravo, sir! Well said!
Ahhh, romance in the classic sense… A fellow could do far worse…
Awwww!
*turns into pile of mush*
I want,
For Islam to actually be a religion of peace, for all corruption in politics to cease, the best seats in the house and a case of Beer!
I want my beautiful city–the love of my life –New Orleans–to be back to what it once was–and never will be again….
I want to go back to May 31st…before my life became something I no longer recognize.
I don’t know what it is, but I hope the new path is eased a little.
Thanks, Chap. I hope it is eased a little bit too but right now, I have no idea what path is ahead of me.
I’m doing my best to be still and let God sort it out. Hard for a hot-headed red head to do…
I’m good with the boys being healthy and bringing the grandkids to whatever home my bride and I are growing old in.
Other than that…cold beer and an opportunity to lay on the garage floor, tinkering on my 65 Mustang.
There’s other wants, but once these necessities are taken care of, the wants will take care of themselves.
I want. The means to travel wherever whenever the desire strikes. But a quiet enough family life that I never feel the urge to run away.
I want. Happy and healthy children all growed up and established in their own lives. With the ability to change them back to toddlerhood with the blink of an eye. And then back again just as quick.
I want. For all children to have their needs met, no matter how “special” or complex. For all of them to be valued and appreciated just for who they are. And for budgets and lack of funds never to be used as an excuse for not meeting those needs.
I want. My Mom back. Not sick, not lost and confused but the way she use to be. The way she’s suppose to be. And if I can’t have that, then a sense of peace and acceptance for all who loved her and to be blessed with the ability to recall only the happy memories. With smiles and no tears.
Sorry but you did ask.
Oh yeah, one more thing. To be able to drop in at Lex’s cabin every once in a while. Just to say hello and chat in person. And maybe, if I’m real lucky, to get the occasional spin in that Husky.
Michelle, last Sunday, I became an orphan Badger, I , too, want my Mom back, free of pain, and good for another 25 years or so. Cancer got Mom at 75, but she is survived by one of her aunts, so she should have had the 25. It is so hard to lose a parent, they never have the courtesy to wait until you are done with them to go away.
Scott
I’m really sorry. My loss was 6 months ago but some days it hurts almost as much as the first day. And I’m sorry to hear that you’re now an orphan but, on the other hand, it occurred to me the other day to be grateful that my Dad died when I was a kid. Because I don’t think I could go through that another year or even 5 or 10 years from now.
How right you are though. They never do bother to ask if it’s an okay time to go. Like there ever would be.
Sorry, there is nothing there. All gone in edit mode.
Lex
Included in the “wants” should be:
I want to be free of government tyranny.
I want to be free of having someone’s else’s perverted views forced down my throat as acceptable.
I want to be free of whinners that “want” but don’t want to work for it.
I want be to free to fly my Husky unencumbered by an over-reaching FAA.
I want to be free to attend a religious function and not be condemned by the lefties as some middle-ages intellectual hold-back.
And lastly, I want to be free to sail that 38 ft sloop with the teak decks and teak-and-holly sole, with the real brass portholes that open, with the full keel, and roller furling jib and not worry about my family’s safety due to pirates on the high seas that the freakin’ UN won’t do anything about.
OK, rant out.
As a woman, I’m not allowed to let men know what I want. It’s a sworn secret amongst the sisterhood.
Yes … and when we find it impossable to devine exactly what you women aren’t allowed to tell us…all hell breaks loose. Best
“Alpha Mike!”
In all seriousness, about the only thing I don’t have that I’d like is total and complete financial freedom. The Oracle and I do have the werewithal for luxuries now and then – but I’d like to do that without the worry.
Otherwise, I have to be honest and say that my life is pretty good right where it is. A new hip gives me new freedoms I never thought possible. That puts everything else in perspective.
But….if we’re going for expanding our imaginations well then:
I want a house on a remote cliff on the island of St. Thomas or Tortola. Not so remote that I can’t get to my big-ass yacht quickly, but remote enough that people would find it so challenging to get to us that they’d largely leave us alone. Except for those people we’d make it easy for.
If you haven’t read it, you may enjoy the fantasy book The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazney.
I’d be over joyed if my work (the one I don’t get paid for) inspired just one other person. I’d start dancing if it helped inspire a more efficient and effective business culture affecting many folks.
All these things sound wonderful.
But right now, I’ll settle for a job.
I was going to post that earlier. Hear! Hear!
I want the end to ObaMagic Obanomics. I don’t need toys right now.
Sounds like some great places. I can appreciate having a goal… Kept me going for years hoping to get to those places.
I invite you to come and visit my blog for a moment, at the bottom of the page there are two photo’s of a 43 foot sailboat and the happy owners in Portugal, enjoying a lunch together at the Beach of Rocks, Portimao, Portugal.
I would like to go back there.
(Thank you, Tax Payers for making my good life possible!)
I want those around me to be happy. I want to want for nothing, but not really want anything.
I want a stone house by the sea, with fireplace that doesn’t go out, and an Icelandic Sheepdog. Maybe a cat or 2 as well. As long as they get along with the dog.
I want a head full of memories, and not a regret among them. I want to eat my wife’s cooking every night, and have bacon every morning. I want to never hear an alarm clock again, but an iPod that always knows exactly what to play.
I think I want my daughter to be 2 forever, but my instincts tell me there is something wonderful at the far end of her childhood.
Oh, and an Aston-Martin DB-9 would be nice too. As long as you’re asking.
I have had similar dreams and once was on a decided path to achieve them. Lately some bad decisions and accompanying bad luck (driven no doubt by the bad decisions) have led me to scale my dreams to the point I just hope to avoid financial ruin.
So far survival is a day to day thing with long term much in doubt.
It has made my more humble and decidedly more appreciative of things I took for granted for far too long.
But your dream sounds great.
Shipmate,
You ever need it, I’ve got some space up here in Maine. I don’t have much, but I’m happy to share what I have.
Castles in Spain…a house in Tuscany… what have you, are nothing without these three faithful friends…
… an old wife…an old dog …and ready money. Best
What do I really want?
No more biopsies. Or maybe just spaced out to once every 10 years.
To see my kids graduate from college.
To dance with my daughter at her wedding.
To play with my grandkids.
To sit with my wife on the couch in front of the fire reading a really good book while running my fingers through her hair.
To go for long runs on cool autumn mornings as the sun is just coming up, with good music on the iPod.
A chance to travel to interesting places every so often.
A hot grill, cold beers and my friends over for burgers and brats.
To know that the very good luck that I’ve had throughout my life will be passed along to my kids.
I want my daughters to have a happier life than mine. Oh, and throw in that little cabin up in northern Wisconsin …
I want to touch enough hearts that I am remembered long after I am gone.
I want the government’s nose out of my business, and it’s hand out of my pocket.
I want the Navy to have leadership with backbone and brains…and enough support from Congress and the White House to keep the country safe.
I want to see open season declared on corrupt politicians…with a bounty paid.
And I want OFF this rock! To see new worlds. Stake out claims the size of New World land grants. To do Great Deeds. Where’s my starship?
I’ll add to that a house of 1,800-ish sq feet….with the indoor 50m range. The Porsche 911 convertible in the garage. And the Pitts S2C in the hangar…right next to the replica Bristol Fighter.
Mike M/
You mean a Bristol Beaufighter? One of the greatest, unsung, unknown (by the general public) all-purpose work-horses of WWII–night-fighter, torpedo/anti-shipping, fighter-bomber–it did it all. A great warplane known only to affectionadoes, really, despite it’s wide-spread use in all theaters during the war. (The USAAF even flew them!)
PS: They looked REALLY mean in their all-black night-fighter paint-job! (Woulda scared me!)
No, I mean a Bristol F2B. Armed, by long preference.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_F.2_Fighter
Mike M/
Ahh, I see, fits in the hanger better and not the maint. bear and easier on the gas bill. Good open-air scarf & leather helmet time. But you COULD terrorize the neighborhood
better with a Beaufighter.
(You know, come to think of it, I don’t know if there are even any left still flyable)
I want to be smart enough to count my blessings….in my ensign khaki pants, which are just a little loose.
Except when my best girl for the last forty years is sitting on my lap.
Then I don’t want anything but her.
In the words of that noted philosopher, Mr. Natural:
“What do I want? What do I need? What am I going to get?
Three different things.”
Although I would like very much for my just-graduated from U of Ill. with a BS in ME son to get a job.
RonF/
Tell your son to register as a Dem and go talk to Dick Daley about a gig as a City Inspector–think of the paid vacation, pension and medical! (Not to mention the pay-offs.
)
I want to retire young enough to still be active and enjoy the years ahead.
I want my wife and kids to live longer than me so I leave this world with the rest of my world intact.
I want to live longer than my Mother did.
I’d like to fly around the country with my wife to visit the kids, grandkids and great-grandkids in an airplane I built myself.
And, I’d like to have a bunch of you good folks living down the road, close enough to visit, far enough that we don’t bug each other.
And don’t forget the universal human want/desire for whurled peas . Best
A day without pain and want. To go back to the days before things went wrong.
Failing that a bunch of cash, a nice place in Tarragona and someone to share it with, that I could do.
Floats on the Husky?
Eventually. Still gotta figure out that back wheel thingie. Which I’m told is summat simplified on a grass strip.
Did I mention that it was a two-plane hangar? Because there’s still that RV-8 to build, too.
A tail dragger is best operated from a grass strip. You can still ground loop it, but the effects are attenuated somewhat. The older nose draggers seem to like grass strips as well. Short Wing Pipers are a natural for grass trips.
RV-8 – now your’re talking….
Of course if you can stand a mite smaller cabin the RV-4 is still the second best flying RV there is and a lot cheaper than the -8. The best, according to those who should know as they have flown them both, is the RV-3 which is enjoying a rebirth of sorts.
Of course that grass strip would be a great home to the SNJ or Stearman as well if the rumble of round motors gets the heart racing….
Only way to get that tail wheel thing done is to get back on the horse. Don’t let a little thing like a balky carburetor stand between you and the joys of soloing a Champ….
I thank God for every day that I’m cognizant, ambulatory and taking nourishment … all else is sweet icing on the cake… I want/need nothing more. Best
Amen to that, Snake.
I think everyone has pretty much covered the important things. I will add one of the things that I learned from my grandfather. We would always be asking him what he wanted for a gift. Christmas, Birthdays, Father’s Day. The wish was always the same, “Just a few kind words”.
I want those in physical pain in this thread to get a break from it. I want those who need employment a job. I want those who mourn consolation. I want those suffering emotionally or spiritually healing. I want Nose to get his cheeseburger and a beer. I want Snake to have his daily gruel and Geritol. I want Babs to get her kid out of the house for good.
Lastly, I want Lex to get his tailwheel endorsement, so he can really be all that he can be.
The wife and I just celbrated 30 years together. I have all I need. Best wishes to all here.
Dust
Well said, Dust.
My wife and I enjoyed playing with the grandson today and I’m reminded how great things really are.
But if there’s any wishes left in the lamp I wouldn’t mind unlimited access to one of the hangers at my home drome: A “newer” L-29; Extra 300; SNJ and Decathlon with an L-39 on the way. All in one place with the door wide open.
Well, aside from the running thing (and I *did* manage to walk a mile and a half today, and in spite of what my doctors told me, am also managing to crank out 15 pushups now!), here’s what I want:
I want to be used by God, whether in great ways or small, in whatever capacity He chooses.
I want to incorporate my faith and God’s love into every area of my life – to be the best husband, father, friend, and chaplain that I can – for His ultimate glory.
I want others to understand the great and surpassing love of Christ, that they too might come to know Him as their personal Lord and Savior.
I want, in whatever circumstances I am in, to be content. (see Philippians 4:11 and/or 1 Timothy 6:8)
And finally, when I get to heaven, I want to hear the words “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
Selah.
Never mind the hangar of planes. Dave had the best answer.
Ya know, reading these posts made me think of one of those little books by the checkout at Barnes and Noble. You pick it up, thumb through it, and think “a lot of wisdom gained through years of joy, suffering, achievement, and loss. Wonder who writes these things?”. And all the time it was y’all – thanks.
Lex needs to flag this in the archives so we can all re-visit.
I want a small house with no stairs so that I will be able to get around without pain in my old age.
The house should be relatively close to a major university so that I may listen, learn and grow.
High speed internet connectivity so that I may continue to view Lex and all of those who comment on his site so that I may read, learn and grow.
That my wife continue to be at my side and that we may listen, learn and grow with each other.
That those who are in physical and emotional pain be released from their burden.
That I can go to sea just one more time as a member of a submarine crew.