New House

I wrote this when we first moved into the new place.

There was a rabbit in the front yard the first time we saw the house. He (I’m saying he’s a male as I see he’s following the pattern of many mammals and living the life of a free-roaming bachelor) was in the back yard the second time. Now that we’ve moved in I see he splits his time between both sides, pruning and caretaking. He oversaw the transition from the previous owners to the bank and from the bank to us and saw that things ran smoothly. We noticed weeds don’t suit his tastes and left those to be disposed of by the boy and his Papa. Those two first set to work while summer was still hot and we’re now just getting settled as winter starts to arrive. Winter is late this year. It usually intrudes into fall much earlier, aggressively inserting itself into our lives, but it seems to have given us a break. The mild nights were appreciated and put to use, as we spent them with the saw on the porch, mixing blasts of sawdust with the cool evening air and the smells of autumn.

The rabbit isn’t always around and I don’t think our yard is his only residence. But he’s here enough that there have been times I’ve wondered if he’s around, looked out the window, and found him right away. He had his first run-in with the dog a few nights ago. But he was close enough to the fence that I think he escaped easily, and I hope the encounter was brief enough that it didn’t discourage him from returning. As far as I’m concerned, he was here first and should be free to come around as often as he likes.

This house has seen a lot of change since the hot summer days and it’s sure to see a lot more. We aren’t completely moved in and renovations aren’t finished - I can see some boxes of lighting fixtures yet to be installed, and the only fully-functioning bathroom is downstairs. And there will be other changes that aren’t cosmetic, as children grow more quickly than some projects will get done, and parents keep growing up, and we fill the halls and rooms with memories as life moves and moves. And the house will change and the people in it will change, but the rabbit will be outside.