Once upon a time....


One of my faithful readers, Alissa from 33 Shades of Green, (you have to check out her site - I love her sewing projects, recipes and photographs) asked if there was a story behind the license plate that is hanging on the wall above my laundry room sink. As a matter of fact there is. 

(my husband made me blur the license plate in case there was some identity thief reading my blog)

Our family had the most amazing experience living in the state of Virginia for a few years. Being Canadian we were skeptical about living among the Americans. We have lived in Canada both on the west coast and on the prairies but moving to the east and another country was a scary concept. We would be far from family and familiar surroundings. To convince the kids we declared this was our adventure and we would come to Virginia not expecting anything but to just embrace what comes our way. My husband and my kids have rich American ancestry, family that settled the Plymouth colony to an American Revolutionary war hero great (a few times over) grandfather, Colonel Timothy Bigelow. (You can read about him here) We used that to our advantage embracing American and Virginian history, realizing that it was our children's history. This enriched our experience.

We fell in love. 

Virginia was a wonderful place to live.

 The people were so amazing and welcoming. Our neighbours were our extended family. It was incredibly heartbreaking to move back to the west and Canada. We miss Virginia daily and would move back in a flash. So instead of handing back the license plates to the DMV we kept them. I mounted them into shadow boxes and wrote about it here. One is hanging in my son's room and the other in the laundry room to remind us of our most amazing time livin' down south with y'all.


6 comments

  1. Barbara - What a sweet story - I'm glad you shared it! I'm going to go and read your linked post about the plate in your son's room. I have a few old license plates (I think the one from my first car) and you've inspired me to think about getting them out of the garage and to display them somewhere inside.

    And to answer your question about my camera: I have a Nikon D40. I bought it a little over three years ago before a trip I went on. Last summer I purchased a new lens that had just come out. I now use it for 90% of my pictures. Here's a link: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/35mm-f18.htm

    Have a great Monday!
    Alissa

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  2. How interesting. I enjoyed that story. Didn't know I was reading a Canadian gal's blog.
    Love the idea of framing that as a keepsake.
    Brooke

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  3. Thanks for sharing your story- I love it when accent pieces have a special meaning!

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  4. Hi Barbara Sweetie...
    I am a new follower. I found you while blog hopping. I have to tell you what a beautiful blog home you and have, and I love all your writes. You are a write besides being a crafter/homemaker.

    I love this beautiful story behind the license plates. How did you manage to keep them? We moved from Oklahoma to Arizona, and they took ours right off of our vehicles. You are so lucky. I would have loved to keep mine also. Maybe because we moved within the US?

    Love your ironing board cover, encouraged me to change mine. Loved the chalk board paint on the bins. I am going to have to try that one. What a great idea. Your window that you added chalk board paint to also was so delightful. I love that idea. Before I forget, your peony is just exquisite.

    Thank you for sharing with me sweetie. I have so enjoyed my visit today. I cannot wait to see what you post next. Please stop by and say hi. I would be so honored if you signed up to follow my blog as well.

    Country hugs sweetie...Sherry

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  5. How great that you had such a wonderful experience here. I've been to Virginia several times and it is a beautiful state. I've been enjoying your current surroundings while watching the Olympics. Whistler is so beautiful!
    xoxo,
    Kim

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