PukhtunWomen

I have had this childhood obsession of having my own horses, and so when my husband and I found the perfect place to raise our family we started searching for a house.

I searched till I found what I thought would be a wonderful place to raise horses and kids. The problem was I hadn't bothered to tell my husband about the horses.

Our real estate agent was very charming and helpful and found me exactly what I wanted. I fell in love with the place before we even got out of the car.

It was a bucolic 150 year old farm, with beautiful orchards and lots and lots of pasture. For my technology savvy husband it was an instant no, no because of the farm being on the historic register would make any alterations to the original structure prohibitive, and God forbid that we live with out the comfort of modern luxuries.

So we started looking again and this time my husband specified that we were not looking for fixer uppers, but something relatively new. So we looked and we looked and we looked , till I was certain that My baby would be born in the apartment we were renting. At some point we reached a compromise and we made a list of what would have to be in the house to make it acceptable to us.

After I had seen about every house that was on sale in the county and I could drive the back roads with my eyes closed, and we could not find a house that we could both agree on, we gave up and decided that for both of us to agree on a house we would have to build. With little time left to go before the baby came, we suspended the search and concentrated on the little life that was to become part of ours.

When I had the baby I left my job and started to enjoy being a stay at home Mom. Daily, baby and I would go looking for the perfect location where we would like to have a house. One day following an add for land for auction, I took the baby and drove out there to find acres and acres of wooded land. Seven miles from the closest grocery store, it was too far to consider.

When we turned around to leave, we came across a small hand written sign for "House for Sale by Owner" . This sign was on the side of a dirt road that disappeared out of sight into the woods. A little apprehensive, I locked the car doors and drove for about a mile down the dirt road and just as I was about to change my mind and turn back we came to a clearing with the most charming little house I had seen. Since I had come unannounced and did not want to be shot for trespassing, I started to turn around when the front door opened and a woman came out and waved to me.

I rolled down my window and told her that I had follow the sign down. She asked if I wanted to see the house and with out thinking I said yes.

It was when I stepped in the house with the baby that I thought to myself, she could be a serial killer for all I knew and worse still I hadn't even bothered to tell my husband where I was headed that day. Looking around I was so taken with the house that I forgot all my worries.

It was truly the most beautifully constructed house I had ever seen and what was so special about it was the fact that the woman who stood in front of me had practically built the house brick by brick herself. She was an artist and had thought having the river in her back yard and the mountains around her she would be inspired, but sadly her children had hated being away from the city and now she came a couple of times a week to draw and paint.

The house was made for an artist with the beautiful custom made windows that just let light pour in and all around there were the most breathtaking natural landscape that reminded me of my native Swat. The river, the trees and the mountains and across the river the 200 cow dairy farm. The house itself was a work of modern marvels and I knew this is where I was going to live. The only problem was it was only 5 acres, but I was willing to give up my horses for this house.

I excitedly called my husband and set up a time to bring him. The two weeks wouldn't go by and I didn't tire telling him about the place. I could saw my husband fall in love with the place but the problem was that the house was about 50, 000 more than what we had in mind. So we thanked the lady and went away very quietly.

I dream t of the house for a while but then decided not to waste any more time daydreaming about it and find the perfect piece of land to build on.

One day out of the blue I was surprised to find the artist at my door, I invited her in and we had some chai with milk and lachi. We started talking and before we knew it 4 hours had gone by and she had to leave, so it kind of became our habit to meet alternatively at each others place on days that she came and between our cups of tee we became very close friends. A whole year passed by and we were surprised to learn that we had another little one on the way.

The artist said that someone had made an offer on the house for 15,000 above the asking price if she included all the furniture, and if we would come up 20,000 she would come down 30,000 for us. My husband and I talked about it that night and the next morning we submit our formal offer. Within 48 hours we had moved in.

Six years later we are happily still in the house and am trying to convince my husband to buy the 30 acres between us and the farm. He keeps on asking what we will do with so much land and I just sweetly smile as always and say " I have childhood dreams to fulfill" He still doesn't know about the horses. Where as in my mind I see them running around on the 30 acres and drinking from the river.

Our children love going to the river bank, so letting them start out I follow as they walk to the river today. They talk about how one day they will have a pony and I smile because all I can see is horses and hear hoof beats.