Anticipated arrival

Saturday night I conquered many long and lonely miles of twisty highway on my way home from seeing family. By the end of the drive, I felt a little long, lonely, and twisty myself. But when I saw the box in the middle of the dining room table, the box marked FRAGILE in eight-inch-high letters, I knew I was headed for an upswing.

A few months ago, I blogged about our dining room, and the amazing chandelier I'd ordered from Etsy seller Khalima. Since then, I'd been waiting eagerly for the arrival of my splendid work of art... so as you can imagine, spying that big old box I skipped a happy little jig.

And early Sunday morning, we drove out to Gilbertsville and installed it.

I'll go so far as to say that it's going to look a lot better once it's keeping company with a dining room table and a buffet, as opposed to a large ladder, empty paint cans, etc. But, you know, I strive for realism here on this blog.

I spent the afternoon unpacking things. Every time I saw this sight, I absolutely beamed. It looked especially lovely as the sun started going down.

Every time we do something like this-- every time something gets finished at the house-- my imagination turns a few happy cartwheels. I stand back and sigh, and picture it. Our future life, our future home, all the good living that's going to take place here. One chandelier in one little room, and all of a sudden I'm standing in the doorframe, eyes tearing, thinking, this is where we're going to eat most of the dinners we're going to eat. For the rest of our lives. Oooh, mercy. We are so lucky to have this place to work towards.