Persistent ladies

31 years. It took me 31 years of needing, wanting, wishing, dreaming and yearning. That’s a pretty long time. I consider myself being persistent, some may even call me stubborn. A quality that comes with it’s pros and cons. For me, and for people around me. So, 31 years.

48 years. That’s how long Anna Grönfeldt had to wait for an airport in Umeå. Mrs. Anna Grönfelt was a secondary school senior assistant master and a liberal politician in Umeå in the early twentieth century. 1914 she proposed for an airport in the City council. That didn’t work. Mrs. Grönfeldt was light years ahead of her time and the proposal was declined, rejected and stomped on. What a brave woman. 48 years. That’s the time needed for the City, the region and the country to see what Anna Grönfeldt envisioned close to five decades before. I wonder what she felt like at the opening of the airport in 1962. Cause she was there, yes. Hat and wool coat with a big fur collar. A white handbag. 82 years old Anna Grönfeldt got to see her dream fulfilled. A pretty persistent lady.

So 31 years. I’m not talking about airports here, those doesn’t come within my jurisdiction. No, I’m keeping closer to home. It took 17 years before I had the floor heating craftsmen didn’t really believe in when I first moved into my grandparent’s old homestead 1981. 17 years too before the kitchen with a fireplace everyone told me was an impossible project was in place. 20 years before I had converted my childhood intriguing attic to an upper floor that I dreamed of as a little girl. 23 years before I had the 4-wheel drive that I so badly needed here at the end of the road. 27 years until I found the exact right wooden barrel to take care of the rainwater at the east corner of the baker’s cottage. And so on.

31 years. It is finally happening. And it comes with a transformation that I wasn’t aware of during the years of wanting and wishing. The north side of my house is changing from a forest-closed-in behind to an open entrance as a carport is rising from my dreams to reality! The groundwork was done the beginning of this week and a wooden skeleton telling me this is for real was up before the weekend. They say my insurance for more tolerable Umeå winters will be an excisting building before I leave for Seattle (!) on Friday!

I was thinking 31 years is just way too long to get a project done. To have a dream fulfilled. That it’s a sign of slow drive, no action or not meant to be. That was before I knew of Anna Grönfledt though. She is now my hero and benchmark. I am working on an Anna Grönfeldt scale. So watch me. The solar cells that I wanted to cover the south side of my roof with since I moved in here will happen. Eventually. And beware. My dreams and visions might grow bigger than my house. And I’m terribly persistent.