Dream becomes Real
Author: C. U. There, junior reporter for the Landisburg Gazette
Posted: Friday October 26, 2030, 2:30pm

Reporter: how and when did you begin contemplating this is what you wanted?

Growing up in a small borough in south central PA, which now has a population of 4,800, we would visit relatives about one Sunday a month 45 minutes away where both my parents grew up – farm country. My dad would take my brother and me hunting on the various farms for pheasants and rabbits and the woodlands where he grew up for squirrels and deer. My brother shot a whitetail buck one year and a few years later I was fortunate enough to shoot one also. I could feel my father’s subdued excitement and satisfaction on both occasions since he only bagged one buck in his lifetime! I always dreamed of having a cabin near where we hunted so we could just get up, get dressed and be outdoors in no time.

Reporter: how did you end up choosing this location?

I was 21 when my father died from AML at the age of 55. I felt if I could get a place near where we hunted, it would be a way to honor my dad and make him proud of my accomplishment. Not long afterwards a plot of land went up for sale, 11 acres of woodland in the same vicinity of where we hunted. I didn’t have the funds but I wanted the land so badly. I was able to secure a bank loan from the local country bank where my mother grew up. I had a full time job and worked 2 part-time jobs to pay off the loan. Shortly thereafter, the adjacent wooded lot of 9 acres was for sale by the same owner. Again, I was able to secure a loan from the same bank and started making payments.

Reporter: have you always lived in Lemoyne, PA?

I relocated to Duluth, MN for a new job when I was 29. Two years later I married the girl I had been dating for four years, whom I met while teaching adult night classes, and we were there for 9 winters. She pleaded with me to get her out of the frozen tundra. It just so happened I was able to transfer with the same company to Cleveland, OH. We lived in an apartment for one year in Brunswick, OH and then had a two-story colonial home built in Medina, OH and lived there for the next 38 years.

Reporter: and what about now?

Being retired, I now relax in the Great Room of our beautiful 4BR/4BA log home with crackling logs in the two-sided fireplace, my wife of 46 years baking zucchini-pumpkin muffins with the aroma waffling throughout, looking out the huge bay widows at the leaves on the neighboring mountainside changing into their brilliant, autumn colors, and driving a new Iridescent Pearl Tricoat colored Chevy Silverado LTZ.

Our downsized vegetable garden gives the impression of an old English garden with its walkways, symmetry and raised beds. Neighbors and visitors express their amazement at the design and upkeep.

With no health issues to speak of, I am truly blessed and thankful. Having joined Weight Watchers on March 1, 2023 has shown me how proper portions and better food choices makes for better health, especially grabbing bottles of water instead of soda and tracking what & how much I partake each day.