Well it’s now 2018 and we have been here in Independence about a year and a half. I can say it has been more wonderful than I had expected. We often tell people, “our life here is like living in a Norman Rockwell painting. We live in a historic prairie styled home in a wonderful neighborhood, that is a short walk to the square, a block from Harry Truman’s historic home, and an easy stroll to a beautiful park at the edge of the grounds for the Truman Library. It is truly Americana. But then, periodically, we step out of this painting, head to the end of our street, turn right toward the beautiful western skyline of downtown
Kansas City and drive 15 minutes to the center of a city with world class opera, museums, landscaped boulevards, parks, and magnificent fountains – a vibrant city based in the arts – they really walk the talk! When we have satisfied our culture fix, we return to our neighborhood and crawl back into this wonderful painting we call home.
Since moving here, Janiece has immersed herself into nature projects, including taking courses and receiving her certification as a Master Gardener, developing pollinator friendly gardens around our home, being a midwife to a Kaleidoscope of Monarch butterflies, and
has re-enrolled with Lenoir Rhyne University to complete her masters degree in creative writing.
So, Terry what about you?, you may ask. Well, I had intended to continue to practice as an architect here. In fact, I had already envisioned a change of firm name to Prairie-Studio. However, after applying for a license here, I was notified that Missouri does not consider reciprocal licensing. This, as you can imagine was a shock to my esteem, given how long I have been in practice, how much I love architecture and design, and how much this was tied to my personal identity. However, it’s not the first time I have experienced rejection. In retrospect, I can see this was the catalyst or part of my silver linings play-book. For a while I struggled to regain my footing, making repairs to our home and our guest cottage, as well as exploring other options for creative work. It didn’t come in a flash or a bolt of lightning, but in subtle ways of thought while working with my hands on the many repair projects. Through this process I reconnected to an understanding of who I am and a realization that creativity and making have always been at the core of my life.
Remembering my childhood as a young boy, imagining and building a large wooden crate/box with various gauges and switches would result in a make-believe rocket ship, and a cool soap box derby racer (not anything like those being built of that day).
As a teen, my imagination moved to a sleek tubular steel motorized go-cart, with front drop axle (which I built), and as a junior in high school, I conceived of and built a car for racing by taking various parts from other cars and assembling them to a body and frame of an old 1947 Ford. (side note, I ultimately raced the car and won several trophies)
With Janiece’s masters studies and nature activities, along with my emerging identity realignment, we found ourselves reminiscing a continuing dream we both have had, of traveling through the great plains of the mid-west and creating a book of writings and photographs. Well, here we are, smack dab in the middle of the North American continent and the remaining American Prairies. What an obvious opportunity to realize our adventure.
During some of my internet searches I came across some really cool camper trailers called teardrops, the concept of which I found to have begun in the early 1930’s. I was intrigued by the differing styles and sophistication - or not, and that most were built by individuals. There were some that were manufactured, but the costs proved to be quite expensive. As my interest grew, I was drawn to a handful of styles which appealed to my aesthetics. However, none was perfect and each lacked some element of what I envisioned. Well, connecting these ideas with our conversations, the sparc (a word from my friends Thad and Lindsey Rhoden) of imagination and creativity coalesced and the dream took on wheels. “I am going to design and build a teardrop camper – the Tallgrass!” (named after the Tallgrass Prairies).
So you may ask what does the second part of the post title above play into this? In Christopher Alexander’s companion books, The Timeless Way of Building and A Pattern Language, he speaks of patterns that occur in life, buildings, and places. We all know these patterns, because we are encoded with that understanding, but we have difficulty in recognizing them because of pragmatism and paradigms of our lives and society. But none the less, we know them as “ah-ha” moments. He also speaks of patterns that seem to repeat in places. For me, what we have done and are now embarking on is not far displaced from the early settlers some 200+ years ago. And like those settlers whose “jumping off point” was here in Independence, we see this as our jumping off point, the beginning of our continuing adventure. In preparation, we are imagining our routes gathering our provisions of education, research, and history, and building our “wagon” with which we along with Jackson will travel with, sleep in, and eat from.
We plan to spend the remaining winter months in these endeavors of preparation for making a maiden voyage this coming spring. Following that, we hope to begin our exploration into the prairies where experiences will be created to share with others, new relationships developed and collaborations constructed – and this is only the beginning.
As Ursla K. Le Guin so eloquently wrote,
“It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.”
Who knows, this may be inspiration for you to find your own jumping off point and the beginning your unique adventure.
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Stay tuned. . . design process for the Tallgrass is next.
Until then, Happy Trails
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