Everyone needs a roof over their head…including us. Misfit Manor is a super cool collection of buildings…that are also pretty old. Our roof on the main house was especially old…and it has been leaking in different spots over the years. We have been patching it as we go but we have known for a while that we were going to have to replace it. Honestly…who wants to spend money on a roof? It may be necessary but it isn’t fun…at least I kept telling my husband that every time he brought up that we need to replace the roof.
This past winter during an ice storm the roof started a leak in my bedroom…drip, drip, drip. My husband was right…we had to get this done.
Every time something like this comes up…a huge vet bill or a frighteningly large expense for the property I have to work really hard at remaining calm and handing it over. For some reason the universe always has Bret and my backs…everything always works out…we just have to be patient. In this case it was a letter and check from my Great Aunt Yvonne’s estate lawyer. My incredible Aunt left us enough money to re-roof the entire property…reading the letter literally took my breath for a moment. All I could do when I read it was sit in silence and stare at it. I called my husband and said “you are not going to believe this…but we just got a roof in the mail”. I have to wonder…is my Aunt Yvonne watching….does she know what an amazing thing she has done for us? Can she feel my grateful heart right now? It is incredibly humbling when someone does something so generous and unexpected…there really are not appropriate words for it…humble is the best I can do.
Bret and I plan to age out at the Manor with our Misfits. We do not like the word “retire” or the traditional view of what it has meant in American culture. We have our own view of what “retiring” means and long ago decided we needed to be intentional about striking a balance between work and play at every age. To us “ageing out” means continuing to do all the things we love until we drop and we want to do it here. We love our work and we love our dogs and our gardens…we love this ridiculous old home we call Misfit Manor and we don’t plan to leave it just because we are getting older. With our inheritance we were able to buy the Lifetime Shingles for the buildings and we had all the flat roofs (there are 4 of them) completely torn off and rebuilt. We will never have to do this again in our lifetime and it feels really good. Thank you Aunt Yvonne.
I only met my Aunt Yvonne twice in my life. Once when I was really little and I don’t remember much of the visit with her. Then again when I was in my late 30’s I went to visit her in Fall River, MA. By that time she lived in an apartment/Assisted Living building. She insisted that we have a meal in the dining room of her building. She walked us around to every table in the dining room to introduce her family to all of her friends there. Clearly getting a visit was meaningful to her and I was humbled to be called her family. I was always told that I looked a lot like her and acted like her. She was a pistol…very witty, very smart and driven and she lived life on her own terms long before women were “allowed” to live life on their own terms. She had no reason to leave anything to me in her will…but she did. The only way I can say thank you now is to say it out loud and hope she can hear it. I hope she can feel my grateful heart. I am not sure if my Aunt liked dogs but she gave my dogs a roof over their heads…literally. I don’t know if she would understand the life I live with my Misfits…but I am certain she would be thrilled that I am doing life my own way.
Signing off with a grateful and humble heart,
Nancy & The Misfits
P.S. Don’t forget to visit our Misfit Manor Shop for holiday gifting items for pet lovers! If you want to help support the Misfits they have an Amazon Wish List and a GoFundMe.