Bedlam Farm has not been sold, but in a way, that seems curiously irrelevant. We have already moved, a new place is taking shape in our minds. We are already gone.  I was concerned when we decided to leave Bedlam Farm that the idea of this place would be lost, it’s sense of mystery and growth, and it wasn’t clear what might replace it. I needn’t have worried about that.

So this is how life works if you let it, if you permit it, if you trust it and have faith in it: I see Rocky on the road, and he leads me to Florence, and she and Rocky draw Maria to her life and house, and we fall in love with the new place and know we want to move there. And we make an offer, and our offer is accepted. And Bedlam Farm waits with grace for a lucky new owner.

And now there are sheep, and Sunday a new dog. And new fences to build. And an art gallery for Maria. And our lives are already revolving around our new home, our new town, our new neighbors. I’m working on E-books and I already see more of them and new  paper books stacked up like planes at a busy airport – the New Bedlam Farm, Red, Rocky, Talking To Animals,  the realization that Running To the Mountain, the cabin, Bedlam Farm are all one and the same thing, the writing, the photography, Maria,  all leading to the same place. The same trip.  And that place is the point, the journey is the point, the search is the point, the animals are the point, and faith and new experience are the point. We are not leaving something, we are moving to something. Crisis and mystery, love and meaning, all just around the corner.

I could always stand still. I could always hide. I could always find reasons to abandon my life and join the walking dead. So could Maria.

Casting aside the shackles of fear, we are free to live, to pursue our lives. We will find what we need. This is faith.