{"id":19575,"date":"2026-03-11T07:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T07:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/building-our-dream-together\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T19:52:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:52:41","slug":"building-our-dream-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/marriage\/building-our-dream-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Our Dream Together"},"content":{"rendered":"

Old married couples like Rick and me can get settled in their routines. Take weeknights at our house. Rick\u2019s pickup would rumble up the drive around 7:30 p.m. Another long day at his auto shop, and late enough that our 12-year-old, Thomas, the only one of our three kids still at home, and I would\u2019ve eaten already. I\u2019d zap Rick\u2019s dinner in the microwave. He\u2019d come in, give me a kiss, wash up. I\u2019d put his plate on the table. A quick blessing, and he\u2019d dig in. Then it was dishes for me and ESPN for him.<\/p>\n

We might chat about Thomas and his upcoming ball game. Otherwise we didn\u2019t talk much. Didn\u2019t have to<\/em>, I told myself.<\/p>\n

My husband was the strong, silent type, and besides, after 25 years, I should be able to read him like the books I was constantly taking out of the library. Right? Not quite.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis guy I know has a piece of property out in the woods,\u201d Rick said one November night between bites. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to take a look at it. It\u2019s perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor what?\u201d I asked. My hands were busy filling the sink, my mind was on the novel I\u2019d been reading. Maybe now that the kids didn\u2019t need me as much, I could start writing a novel of my own.Writing was a dream of mine.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur log cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n

That got my attention. \u201cRick, what are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we\u2019ve got some money now, we can build\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a great place already.\u201d Close to our son\u2019s school, our church, Rick\u2019s shop. \u201cAnyway, we decided what we\u2019re going to do with the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a small legacy from my grandparents. \u201cWe\u2019re saving it. College tuition, remember?\u201d Our daughters were still in college, and there was Thomas to consider.<\/p>\n

\u201cA creek runs through the land. Thomas would love it,\u201d Rick went on as if he hadn\u2019t heard a word. \u201cJust think, Julie, our own cabin in the woods\u2026like we\u2019ve always dreamed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cC\u2019mon, Rick.\u201d Sure, he used to buy those log-home magazines, but all they did was gather dust until I finally tossed them. \u201cWe haven\u2019t talked about this log cabin thing in years. I didn\u2019t even know you were still thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m telling you now, Honey,\u201d Rick said. He glanced at his watch. \u201cShoot, the Braves are on already.\u201d He stuck his plate in the sink. \u201cDinner was great. Thanks.\u201d He disappeared into the den.<\/p>\n

Our log cabin,<\/em> I thought as I scrubbed the dishes. Just like we\u2019ve always dreamed<\/em>.<\/p>\n

My mind went back to a brilliant autumn day when I was 15 and Rick, my high school sweetheart, just a year older. He zipped his lime-green Kawasaki motorcycle into the woods. I hung on tight, half scared, half thrilled.<\/p>\n

We came across a rustic cabin. We stopped, took in the wraparound porch, the antler railings. \u201cNow this is a home,\u201d Rick said. He reached for my hand. \u201cOne day we\u2019ll have a place like this\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026where we can sit on the porch and drink in the beauty all around us,\u201d I finished. Rick was fearless in his dreaming, in his faith that God meant for us to have a future together.<\/p>\n

And with my hand in his, I felt as sure about our future as he did. Back then it seemed like we knew everything there was to know about each other. Now I had no idea what was on my husband\u2019s mind. And he wouldn\u2019t know what was on mine because he never asked.<\/p>\n

What happened, Lord? Why don\u2019t Rick and I connect like we used to?<\/em> I wondered. With our blessings had come responsibilities. Did our love get dragged down to earth by everyday things?<\/em> Like the dishes. Bills. Church committees. The kids sports practices.<\/p>\n

To connect, we had to talk. Rick wasn\u2019t the communicative type, so it was up to me. I finished the dishes and went into the den. Rick looked up from the TV. \u201cAbout this log cabin,\u201d I said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like you\u2019ve built a house before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, I\u2019m good with tools,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are,\u201d I conceded. \u201cBut\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust come with me, Julie, and check this spot out. You\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll right.\u201d I owed him that.<\/p>\n

That Saturday we drove into the woods. Rick led me around the plot, among the hickories and pines.<\/p>\n

In my head, I did the math. If we spent all our savings on this land, then we\u2019d have to get a bridge loan for the construction. What if our house didn\u2019t sell? Could we pay our mortgage and <\/em>our loan? I didn\u2019t even want to think about how building a new house would cut into the time I hoped to set aside for writing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t it beautiful?\u201d Rick said. He pointed to a clump of trees. \u201cThat\u2019s where our wraparound porch can go.\u201d<\/p>\n

I opened my mouth, ready to remind him of what could go wrong. Then I saw the wonder in Rick\u2019s eyes, the fearless fire that still burned in him.<\/p>\n

This was the man I\u2019d fallen in love with. The man I\u2019d trusted my life to when I was only 18. He\u2019d made good on that trust, working hard to provide for our family so I could be a stay-at-home mom like I\u2019d wanted. Maybe it was his turn to do something he\u2019d always wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, Rick,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019ll do this. For you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us,\u201d he corrected me.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

We went to a log home manufacturer and decided on a model. Three weeks later a cardboard tube arrived by UPS. Our blueprints. I took them out, tried to read them. Nothing doing. \u201cHow will all these crisscrossing lines add up to a house? What have you gotten us into?\u201d I practically wailed when Rick got home from the shop.<\/p>\n

He calmly spread the blueprints out and showed me where each room would be. \u201cI\u2019ll take out the third bedroom,\u201d he said, \u201cand put in a computer room that overlooks the den. See?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot really.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will,\u201d Rick said confidently.<\/p>\n

The log company set up the logs, and by spring we had a shell of a house. Now came the really hard labor-filling the shell. Rick would come home from the auto shop, bolt down dinner, then go to work on the cabin, sometimes not crawling into bed beside me until two in the morning. He had to be exhausted, but I hadn\u2019t seen him this happy in a long time.<\/p>\n

Saturdays he and Thomas were a father-son construction crew. I stayed home, trying to write and not think about all the problems that could crop up with the cabin.<\/p>\n

One weekend Rick dragged me to Home Depot. \u201cLet\u2019s use these rocks for the kitchen floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRick, you\u2019d have to polish them. How about slate tiles?\u201d I asked. \u201cStill rustic, but easier to clean.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rick nodded. \u201cI guess we should be practical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Had I really heard that? \u201cNow for the master bathroom,\u201d he said. We strolled through the aisles in the bath section.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at that tub!\u201d I exclaimed. \u201cWith claw feet, just like the one my grandma had. I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen that\u2019s what we\u2019ll get.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSure. It\u2019s your house too, Julie.\u201d<\/p>\n

So why couldn\u2019t I feel good about it? Even as I marked our progress\u2014framing up, flooring installed, plumbing in, electricity working\u2014I kept worrying. What if our current house didn\u2019t sell? What if it sold but the price didn\u2019t cover our building costs? What if? What if?<\/p>\n

One Saturday about 10 months into building, I packed a picnic lunch and took it to the site. I found my husband perched at the top of a 20-foot ladder, hanging a tongue-and-groove ceiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cRick!\u201d I said, feeling like I had been riding on the back of his motorcycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry, I\u2019m careful.\u201d He climbed down. \u201cCome on, I\u2019ll take you on a tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

He showed me the slate tiles in the kitchen. The wood-burning stove. The antler railing on the staircase. The space where the clawfoot tub would go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is amazing, Rick. The way you\u2019ve made everything come together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDidn\u2019t I promise I would?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2014\u201d I was ashamed to admit it. \u201cI guess I wasn\u2019t listening.\u201d<\/p>\n

I spread out a blanket and we had our picnic on the unfinished floor. I thought about how I wished Rick and I could connect like we used to.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d pegged my husband as the uncommunicative type, but hadn\u2019t he, in his own quiet way, been reaching out, telling me what he was thinking? Showing me through his actions, if not his words. Wasn\u2019t building this home his way of communicating?<\/p>\n

Maybe it was me<\/em> who was stuck in a routine. I get it now, Lord,<\/em> I thought. Talking is important, but so is listening. Help me do more.<\/em><\/p>\n

We sold our house in February and moved into the cabin the day before Valentine\u2019s Day. Rick led me up the steps of our wraparound porch and took me on another tour.<\/p>\n

The thought he\u2019d put into every detail! The shelves that were the perfect spot for my grandfather\u2019s train collection, the weathered horse collar he\u2019d turned into a frame for our bathroom mirror. On the third floor we walked into a loft overlooking the den.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is for you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d I could have sworn this was the spot Rick marked as the computer room.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s space for all your books and the computer. And here\u2019s a window so you can look out at the trees. This is your writing loft, Julie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tears came to my eyes. Maybe Rick hadn\u2019t come right out and asked what mattered to me, but he\u2019d been paying attention. Far better than I had. \u201cHoney, you planned this all along?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the very beginning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

I reached for my husband\u2019s hands, calloused from all the work he\u2019d done, and held them tight. \u201cThank you, Rick, for building our dream house.\u201d<\/p>\n

What if? What if we found our dream\u2026 together.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Old married couples like Rick and me can get settled in their routines. Take weeknights at our house. Rick\u2019s pickup would rumble up the drive around 7:30 p.m. Another long day at his auto shop, and late enough that our 12-year-old, Thomas, the only one of our three kids still at home, and I would\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[15,58,67],"ppma_author":[1117],"class_list":["post-19575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marriage","tag-faith","tag-guideposts","tag-marriage"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBuilding Our Dream Together - Guideposts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/marriage\/building-our-dream-together\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building Our Dream Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Old married couples like Rick and me can get settled in their routines. 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