Getting to Where We Are

ADELAIDE AND I have never been ones to chase trends. I think we've become part of a trend, anyway. We are among those who have figured out they would be happier with fewer things and less space. We may not be in the vanguard of that movement nationally, but we are at least riding the early waves that are landing at National Village, a housing development at Grand National in Opelika, one of the courses on Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail developed by the Retirement Systems of Alabama.

Our cottage is on the second street of cottages to be built in National Village. Some houses on the street were  already occupied when we chose our lot last spring, but there were more vacant lots. Since we joined the neighborhood at the end of August, several more houses have been completed. A house is nearing completion on the lot next door to us, and I'm told that the lot on the other side of us has been sold. A friend—actually the person responsible for us being here—has reserved the lot across the street from us.

We lived in our house on Lake Martin longer than in any house since we have been married, and we loved living there. The lot was steep, and the house was tall. It was on a point, and in the mornings I sat in the little reading room off our second-floor bedroom, drinking my coffee and watching the sun's first light catch the ridge across the slough. In the evenings, we often sat on the front deck, drinking in the solitude. Visitors, especially children, were intrigued by the widow's walk, where you could lie on your back on a clear night and stare straight up into the Milky Way.

FOR SEVERAL YEARS, we talked about downsizing in an abstract sort of way. We were happy enough where we were. We had good neighbors and a good community, and no place was calling us. We also had a tall house on a steep lot, a house that was built with children and grandchildren in mind. When the children and grandchildren (and their friends and their children) could not come as often as they once had, we realized that we were heating and cooling and cleaning and maintaining a lot more space than we truly needed.

Finally, with our impeccable sense of timing, we put the house on the market just about the time the housing market fell right off the dock. Homes on the lake fell into the category of luxuries, and no one was chomping at the bit to buy ours. After a year without any serious action, we let the listing lapse. We appreciated our good fortune at living in a place where many count themselves lucky to spend a few precious weeks of vacation, and we faced no deadlines for taking the next step in our lives.

At the end of last winter, we decided to try again. We did not have a plan for what we would do if someone actually bought the house and didn't feel pressed to make a plan, a lack of optimism, I suppose.

Then somebody bought the house. It all happened more quickly than we had anticipated.

ONCE WE REALIZED that we weren't likely to find something that met all of our requirements on the water, the Auburn/Opelika area entered the picture. We shopped and ate and went to entertainment and cultural events here, but we had never thought seriously about calling it home.

We had visited several times with an eye on it as a place to live. But that was considering it as a place to live for a friend, also a lake dweller, who was looking to downsize.

Of the places we looked at with our friend, the only one that had any appeal for us was National Village. 

So facing the reality of moving, we paid several more visits, this time viewing it as a possible home for us

There would be tradeoffs, of course. Less space, but less time and money allocated just to housing; less privacy, but more convenience. The fact that Retirement Systems of Alabama was the developer added to the appeal. I have observed RSA for many years, and it does not do shabby.

So we picked a plan and signed a contract. And  after disposing of an awful lot of possessions—it is not in Proverbs, but it is a truism that as long as you have a place to put stuff, you tend to keep it—we moved into an apartment in Auburn.

THERE WERE SOME bumps in the construction process, of course; no building project is without vexations. None of those vexations were major, though, and the builder, Conner Bros., has been responsive when we've found a problem.

We moved in at the end of August, and are mostly, but not totally settled (more about that latter).

We like that fact that everyone we've met is pleased to be here. We like the fact that it is not a gated community. We like the fact that the community isn't made up exclusively of retirees. We like the fact that there are community activities to engage in but that there's no pressure to do so. We like the fact that although lot sizes are small, the housing areas occupy only a small part of a larger, undeveloped space.

It is, we think, the right place for us.

 SOME LESSONS from our experience:

Give away or burn your possessions. No matter how much stuff you get rid of, you will move too much. Furniture from a larger house may be out of scale for a cottage. Think about some of the things you have held onto, not because you like them  but because you inherited them from someone. Liberate yourself and spare your children a burden.

If you are building a new home, keep careful notes of your meetings with the builder, and write down all of the things you have selected, from paint colors to trim, to fixtures. I don't suggest this because I think builders are crooked or incompetent. It is just that so many people are involved in building a house that missteps are too easy. And it is easy for you to forget some of the choices you did make.

Consider getting professional help. We hired a decorator to help us with colors, materials selections, design modifications and furnishings. We are happy with the result.