Landed

I’ve been on an historical fiction jag. It started with Outlander and The Other Boleyn Girl and continued with the rest of the Outlander series and more Phillipa Gregory novels (Wideacre, Earthly Joys). An unexpected side effect of my reading has been a newfound appreciation of being a property owner. Unlike the characters I’ve read of, I’m not a serf, I’m not indigent, and I do not live in the middle of political upheaval. I’m a landed lady, exactly as the women in my novels aspire to be.

Last week, we had one of our first sunny, warm days in a long while. By the time I left work, my fingers were itching for garden dirt. I had a pleasant bus ride home, reveling in the feeling of sunshine on my neck and the smell of spring in the air. As we traveled up Vine Street, I saw many of the area’s residents out on corners, stoops, and sidewalks, likewise soaking up the sun. I couldn’t help but feel that it was a very poor way to appreciate spring. Besides the weather, the change of season was nowhere evident: no bulbs peeking up from the earth, no trees cloaked in a haze of green, no amorous birds scuffling in the leaves. Instead, the view was of the unchanging dirty streets, oppressive buildings, and belching traffic. Most, if not all, of the people I saw taking some air, rent cramped apartments nearby. They spend day in and out within the cityscape. Spring means nothing more than a change of wardrobe and bills. Again, I felt grateful to be a home owner, with our small plot of land in which to revel in the earth’s yearly resurrection.

I do, indeed, feel lucky that Mike and I were in the financial position to buy our house and its surrounding land. The bank owns a good chunk of it, but we feel as if it were all ours. I am also thankful for the fact that we live in a time and country in which we can feel secure in our ownership. I fear no political unrest will unland us. As long as we can keep up with the mortgage and property taxes, we have a place to call our own. Our hold may be somewhat tenuous, but I feel secure, fortunate, and connected to the earth.