Every Version
“I told my wife that even if we lost everything, except each other, we would be just fine.”
Jon Buckner pulled up a blue velvet covered chair to the table, while beginning to talk. He had just finished a phone call with his wife. They were discussing the challenges they faced in their dog grooming venture.
“We’ve been having such a hard time finding people to work in our business. Sometimes it feels as if we’ll never be able to get over that hump,” he said, before taking a pause and turning more philosophical about life. “I’ve lived here my entire life and I’ve done many different kinds of work. I’ve built houses, been a surveyor, a mechanic and seen much of the world as a designer, all while living here, in this place.”
When Jon was a young boy, this place, his home town, was much smaller than it is today. In fact, earlier in the day, one person who had not been in the town for twenty-five years commented that it wasn’t even the same place then, as now. There are thousands of more people. There is construction everywhere and opportunity is abounding now as compared to that quarter century-former-self.
“Sometimes it’s just hard to remember the way things were when I was growing up,” Jon reflected while describing his past. “When I was a boy, if we were lucky enough to be living in a double-wide mobile home of questionable condition we felt grateful.”
His description deepened as he when on to say, “Every house I lived in while growing up is gone. You know that condemned, boarded-up white house just off of east Central Avenue? It was my home for a while. When I lived there it seemed to be made of nothing but asbestos and dust. But, we were happy, because we were together and we had a roof over our heads.”
There was determination in his voice and a steel-like-strength shining from his face as he rehearsed end-part of the conversation he had just finished with his wife. He had told her that things would work out fine for them, even if their “extra things,” the things that provide them with additional comfort, such as their Escalades, were to go away they could still be very happy, and perhaps even more so.
After all, the life he used to live, the one currently dancing across an invisible stage, up front in his memory as he was story-telling, transmitted certain peace and joy into his present.
“I’ve done many things throughout my life. I know how to work in different vocations. I’ve had less and I’ve had more. And, the thing I always keep in mind is that I’ve had happiness in every time and every version of my life.”
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I’m Lynn Butterfield, Real Estate & Lifestyle Expert and Television Host for American Dream TV in Northwest Arkansas. I’ve helped hundreds of Buyers and Sellers, as a real estate agent and Associate Broker with Coldwell Banker, to discover where and how they want to live and work; to achieve what I call Realesation™. That’s why I bring you American Dream TV, Both Sides of the Fence, About the Dish, Monday’s Warm Cocoa and Home by Design Magazine to stir your heart and mind. Contact me so I can join you along your own unique path of discovery.
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