Today is my grandson Charlie’s 12th birthday. I am “up nort’.” staying with his cousins and won’t be able to attend his birthday party. My husband, Bernie, will be there and will present our gift to Charlie. I told Bernie and Heidi that I want us to be skyping when he opens it.
Last summer, Charlie and I were taking a walk to the neighbor’s farm to buy corn. It is a mile or more away from our house and it was warm and sunny. As we walked in our beautiful country area with its farm fields ready for harvesting and patches of wooded areas where farmers like to plant their houses, Charlie told me about his dream to one day turn a bus into a house and live in it. This led to a discussion about what it means to live off the grid and the challenges of such a plan in Minnesota where winters are harsh. “But if it is a bus, you can move your house around,” I said. Then I added, “And you can take Grandma with you.”
Charlie doesn’t read my blog, nor does his mother so I can tell what the gift is hours before he gets it. I bought him a book about tiny houses with a chapter given to houses made out of old buses. I can’t wait to see the expression on his face.