Regular readers by now will be familiar with Deer Tick Manor, the semi-rural property that Lee and I acquired almost 20 years ago. On July 18th, I bid farewell to Deer Tick. By late afternoon on that date, the place should have new owners, who may call it by any name they wish.
To help me close the deal, I have hired the same attorney who assisted Lee and me with its purchase way back when, except he now is a seasoned lawyer and a senior partner in his firm who charges senior partner rates. Despite paying a premium for the same basic service he rendered to us in the past, it seems fitting to me that things will have come full circle.
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The Deer Tick backstory is this: I used to take occasional mornings or afternoons off from work to “bird dog” parts of northern Indiana in search of a second home, a weekend getaway and potential retirement destination for me and Lee. The truth is that I had fun simply driving in new territory on a mission of discovery. Finally, after one or two years I thought I had found the place: a single story brick house, just south of the City of Valparaiso, Indiana, located on a small lake. The place had its own dock, a pontoon boat, a generous amount of shoreline, and featured a desirable western exposure. I had happened by just as the owner, an older gentleman who I soon would learn was planning to relocate to Arizona to be with his adult daughter, stood outside, admiring the “For Sale” sign displayed on his front lawn.
When I stopped my car to strike up a friendly conversation with this gentleman, I could hardly hide my excitement. We hit things off, too, and on the next day I returned to see him with Lee, who liked his property as much as I did. As I say, the place seemed to be perfect for our then-present and future needs. It obviously was an excellent investment too, being the “worst” place on a very fine street. Not that the old house itself was at all bad. Yet, I could see that with the sole exception of the old man’s house, the other original lake houses had disappeared, and in their places new and ostentatious mini-mansions surrounded the small lake.
I won’t bore you with all the details today, suffice to say we didn’t get the house, despite the fact its owner wanted us to be the ones to inherit his place. It’s been nearly twenty years, and it still sticks in my craw.
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For me, buying Deer Tick Manor was the real estate equivalent of getting married on the rebound after my true love of a property jilted me at the altar. The plain truth is that Lee always liked Deer Tick better than I did.
It is also true that everything that Deer Tick was in time to become for us was due mainly to Lee’s vision and efforts. She designed and created the marvelous perennial gardens and flower beds that are spread about the property.
Over time she transformed the place, both inside and out, turning a large 2-story house into our home away from home. She updated the interior of an otherwise drab 1960s split-level, filling it with playful and practical items that she procured locally.
Many of my favorite memories at Deer Tick involve watching Lee tend to her plants. Although gardening such a big place involved hard, physical labor, when she’d remove the straw hat that had belonged to her dad to dab her brow with a kerchief, I understood that for Lee this activity was a labor of love. Sometimes she’d catch me watching her. Still red-faced from her happy exertion, she’d broadly wave to me with a grin. 
Lee was conscious of the dangers of being diabetic and was extremely responsible when it came to managing this disease, so whenever I observed her stop working, especially on hot, sunny days, I would bring her cool water to drink and a healthy snack to help hold down her blood sugars. If there was a task that called for a bit more muscle power than she possessed—Lee was a tiny sprite—she would not hesitate to recruit me. I was happy to help but, except for watering the grasses and plants, was no volunteer when it came to gardening chores.
Naturally, I admired and enjoyed these fruits of Lee’s labors yet her hobby never suited me personally as a form of exercise. Still doesn’t.
For Lee, however, gardening was more than exercise. More even than a hobby, for her gardening was an avocation. She actually studied flora, including trees, landscaping, weather, soil, insects and, of course, planting techniques. She was self-taught but very knowledgeable. Over time I observed that even our countrified neighbors would come around to seek her horticultural advice and counsel, despite the fact she was a city girl. Lee’s intention had been to attend formal study and become certified as a master gardener once she retired from working. It never happened, however, just one more way death unfairly snatched life from her midstream.
In any event, after taking a short break for luncheon on our front porch, she would walk me around the property and proudly show off her accomplishments from that morning. Then, it would be back to work.
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When Lee died, I thought about managing Deer Tick without her. At times, I thought I would keep the place in her memory, in recognition of the job she had undertaken, perhaps even expanding upon the original work by building a walking path or adding a pond. At other times, I thought I might make a charitable donation of the place with the proviso that it be maintained as a place in nature, thinking one day school kids could visit and observe nature’s wonders at work. In the end, I will simply take the money and run.
My decision to sell Deer Tick Manor is the most practical choice, of course. Each year, as I age, Deer Tick with its large house and acreage becomes harder for me to manage and navigate. By selling the place, I will be spared thousands of dollars annually in upkeep and expenses. I am going to recoup my original investment and cost of improvements, even make a small profit from its sale. These annual savings and profit will not only help to fund my current plan to get away for a couple months each winter, starting in 2023, but, more generally, provide me with a bit of a financial cushion in these uncertain times. Lee would understand, I think.
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So why did it take me so long to make the decision? I think that maybe it simply took some time to sink in that Lee was Deer Tick Manor. When she left my reasons for keeping this place went along with her. I will still have my photographs and (for the time being at least) my memories of Deer Tick. I have my few souvenirs of the place.
Most importantly, Lee will be with me wherever I may journey in life. In the end, this is quite enough.
