For those reading this who don't really know me, I'm the friend/family member with my head constantly in the clouds. It was years before I could watch "The Santa Clause" (1994) for the second time, because I'm Scott Calvin ... people tend to urge me to see a therapist about my constant dreaming and fantasizing about who I am and what I can do.
I got divorced in 1984/85, and I have worked out of necessity ever since. I am very good at my work, but I am not very happy. I was so very happy being a wife and mother, seeing to the upbringing of my child and the upkeep of my home. I loved being able to help others and volunteer. I have never been cut out for the corporate world. I have left the employ of every job I've had, due to someone I worked with feeling the need to use me as a scapegoat, so he/she could achieve a certain status or position that he/she believed was not possible to achieve while I was around. I was happy in my work, again, for about three or four years, when I stopped working out of the home, to take care of my mother, while she was bedridden. Once again, I had the fulfillment of running a household and volunteering my time and services to help others.
Then, in 2010, my mother moved in with one of my brothers, so that I could get back to the business of the corporate world, which again became a necessity. And I have been at it, again, ever since. There's a difference this time, in that I am living alone. Toward the end of 2012, I felt impressed to apply for a job transfer and move to Peoria, Illinois, at least 3 hours from any family and the many friends I had made in St. Louis, where I had lived since 1976, and this caused me to feel even more alone, although I still think this is was the right thing for me to do.
My big dream has been to have a 3 or 4 bedroom house on about 10 acres, where I could have goats, chickens, a milk cow, and where I could breed dogs and grow my own vegetables and fruits. The house would also serve as a home base for my nonprofit organization, The Marcella Simmons Musicians Assistance and Education Association. The Association would provide room and board for touring musicians, and music lessons for anyone who wants music lessons of any type but is unable to afford them. The barn would be used for fundraising, by serving as a music venue, movie theatre, cookouts, and a place for seminars and trivia nights.
About a month ago, after talking to a couple of guys I work with about my big dream, I checked Craigslist, on a whim, to look for housing that would put me inside the boundaries of a different Ward in my Church. My search did not reveal anything inside the boundaries of a different Ward, but it did bring up a 5 bedroom, 4 bath, 2700 sq. ft. house for rent, on nearly 11 acres of tranquil woods and pasture, set at the end of a long, private lane. The house includes a large wrap-around front porch; the main level has a living room w/slider to back deck, dining room, kitchen with cooking island, breakfast nook, laundry/mud room, guest bath with shower, master bedroom with walk-in closet and master bath; the 2nd floor has two bedrooms with walk-in closets and a full bath; the finished basement has two bedrooms, family room, full kitchen, and bath with shower. There is a 2-car attached garage, a 100-year-old barn, two greenhouses, an in-ground trampoline, an oak grove, a stocked pond, and wild turkeys.
This is exactly what I have always wanted, and I don't believe it's a coincidence that I found it, but I don't know how to make it happen. I have been unsuccessful finding people to accept my invitation to be on the board of directors of my nonprofit, and I don't know any tax attorneys that would help me pro bono. Without renting it for a nonprofit business, I cannot afford the $2400 a month rent, and I don't know anyone who would be interested in moving in with me and helping with the rent.
Soooo ... if anyone reading this is interested in helping get my nonprofit going and/or starting a "commune" with me, or you have any suggestions on how I can accomplish this, or you can just pray for things to work out ... please do so!
I'll keep dreaming and praying, wishing and hoping, and puzzling and puzzling...
Teah
