January 17th~

There is nothing like returning to a place 

that remains unchanged to find the ways

 in which you yourself have altered...

Our search for a place in Branson began almost four

 months ago.  Once Arvid got back from Norway he just kept

 talking about Branson.  I don't always pay attention to everything 

he says because many is just because he's restless or bored.

But then every so often (too often) he would say "we need

 a place in Branson so that we can get away from the summers 

in Florida."  I just looked at him and said, "that's why we have

 the apartment in Norway."  From what I understood when we 

got the apartment in Norway, Arvid was going to spend most 

of the summer there.  To get away from the Florida heat.

I love Branson, but Arvid had it really bad this time. 

 Everything he talked, everything he did was Branson related. 

 He was so busy looking for places for us.   I thought it was 

just another of his phases, so I just went along with it.  

Of course I wanted to go back to Branson, but at

 the time I was not sure I wanted a place there.  I was 

happy with Airbnb, but then Arvid started talking about 

being there for months.  I started to get concerned.

  My first thought was Sniff.  No way was I leaving 

him that long.  Going to Norway for almost three weeks is 

long enough.  I do not like being away from him for so long.  

He's my baby.  I miss him too much and worry about him.

After much back and forth I said okay to an apartment 

only because then Sniff would be with us.  Otherwise I told

 him I would only go for about a week and he can stay on 

alone if he so wished.  Compromise.  We bought a little

 condo in Branson because now Sniff can come as well.  

Everything in Branson is so familiar.  It feels like we 

came back home.  When Arvid asked if I would like to have 

a hotel again, there I drew the line.  Absolutely not.  It was 

good while we did it, but now we are older and it's gotten 

tougher to do the things we used to do.  Well almost.

Though it's winter, the weather has been amazingly

 good to us.  The sun is bright and the skies are always 

blue.  Makes winter feel like a permanent vacation.

To all a very good day.  Always the simple life is the best.

 A home is a place where we feel safe; it is our fortress

 that shields us from the troubles in the outer world...

~Nadiya~