As kids, my friends and I spent the majority of summers exploring the beautiful rural lands of southwest Iowa searching for the best trees to build our getaways. You know, the things kids used to do in order to entertain themselves. We built unique yet often unsturdy structures… but we sure were proud of them. One summer, we hit the mother load and found the perfect tree. Not only was it the perfe
ct tree , but there at the foot of it, was as much lumber as we needed to build our dream treehouse. At the time, we had no idea that the site we had picked was a dumping ground for the farmer that owned the land. I guess it’s true what they say, “One man’s garbage is another man’s treehouse…,” or something like that. That summer we slaved away building, building, and building until all of the lumber was used up. I can remember standing in front of our recently completed, three-story treehouse with the thought of “where is the best spot for my bed?” Right then, it occurred to me. This was my dream: To live in a cabin amongst the trees. As the years went by, I changed and my dream of living a simple life in the trees had faded. I moved to the city with absolutely no direction for my life. I had had several jobs where I worked my butt off and was good at, but was never truly happy. After years of wandering the city in search of something, anything, a miracle happened. I’ll be honest, at first, I had no idea that Hannah would eventually become my wife. But, between the time we started dating and when I asked her to marry me, I started to become proud of the life that I was creating. After arriving at this crossroad in my life, there was still something that I felt was seriously getting in the way of my happiness. I had heard a saying around this time that really stuck with me and may have been the sole reason for what I like to call, my “quarter life crisis.”
It went something like this. In life, you need to have three hobbies: One that will keep you happy; one that will keep you in shape; and one that will make you money. So, when I heard that, I did what any responsible adult would do. I quit my job. This was one of the scariest things that I have ever done. I had finally earned a well-paying job, with great benefits and all the room in the world to move up the corporate ladder. I must be hard to please. Most people with an opportunity like mine, would take it and run. But, with that saying still running through my mind, I decided to kill three birds with one stone. I wanted to learn how to build. So, I traded in my managerial skills for a hammer and a saw. At the time, I hadn’t even decided to build the cabin and looking back on it, I don’t think that I could have made a better decision. I was sub-consciously deciding that I would someday need the skills to be able to build Hannah and I’s getaway. It wasn’t until one day, when I was out at the farm with Hannah’s father, Bob, doing chores, that the decision was made. I remember looking down at the old weathered treehouse that had been on the tree line for years when bob said, “you know, Cory. I think a small cabin would look good where that treehouse is.” Now that some time has passed, I now realize the old man was the one that really triggered my dream of building our cabin in the trees. Or, this was his secret way of getting a cool cabin built on his property. Haha either way, the building had then started. Until next time,
Cory
