John also spent many days at the lake, just on the other end of it. There were a few of his friends who had places up in the Rock Creek area near Swayback Bridge, so that's where they hung out. (To hear some of the stories, you have to wonder how they didn't all end up dead or at the least, seriously injured!) Needless to say, they had their fun, too, but he also saw the lake as a place to get away from the rat race.
While John was waiting on his divorce to be finalized, he moved to the lake and lived at Ron's for about 6 months or so--from September of '90 until about March of '91. He loved being up there because it was so quiet and relaxing.
So many people see the lake only on summer weekends when it is crowded with boats and jet skis. Like I said, growing up I went to the lake to play--swimming, boating, lying out in the sun. I never saw the lake as anything except a place of recreation. Until I met John. John showed me the lake on those early mornings and those late afternoons when the water looks like glass. He helped me see the lake as a place of relaxation and reflection, as well as a place to have a great time. Once I began to see that, his dream became my dream.
When we both still lived in Jasper, he decided to buy a boat. It was a beauty, too. We started spending many weekends on the water (weekday afternoons, too.) But...the boat was a headache. I think in the 3 or 4 years we had it, it was in the shop at least 6 times. After we married and moved to Dadeville, we kept it at Blue Creek, but after a while (and a couple more repairs) we decided to sell it and get a Harley. (That was another dream come true.)
Over the years, we dreamed of being able to buy a place on the lake, preferably Smith, but we just couldn't afford it. Still, we'd look at the real estate guides and dream. "Someday" became our manta, I guess you could say, but we never really saw "someday" as ever getting here. The more financially able we became, the higher the price of lake property went. But our "someday" did finally arrive.
In July of 2007, we spent our week of vacation at Danny and Linda's place. Mr. Ward, their lake neighbor, had had his place on the market for about a year. The week we were at the lake, we walked around and looked at the property--almost every day. We started talking about how we could swing it. We looked at what we currently owed, what was about to be paid off (the house!), and what we could live without. And we decided to see if we could get the financing. And that was a chore, but more about THAT in my next post!
Happy dreaming!
