Dear Editor,
We’re heading north and so excited. We’re moving full time to Vermont! For decades we’ve been snow birds, like my parents, spending half the year in Bradenton, Florida.
But now our Florida house is up for sale — a 1929 Spanish Mediterranean brimming with beauty and charm. A young family we hope will soon own it. I hear their children’s footsteps sound room to room. Fingers crossed the sale goes through.
Returning to Vermont fills me with joy for we live in the house my father built. Since I was 7 he followed his dream to build a ski lodge in Killington. It took several decades just coming on weekends from Montclair, New Jersey where I grew up. Killington was just starting in 1958 when we began to clear the land.
Now there’s a twist to our return: Our son and his family will join us soon.
Our lodge is large, but with seven of us, we’ll have to squeeze in just like the Waltons. After all, I discovered my great great grandmother was an ancestor of the Walton clan.
Why leave behind our tropical retreat for snow and ice in the frozen north? We yearn to be with our family and participate more in our grandchildren’s lives. What could be more satisfying? Like families all around the world, living together is a common tradition that’s often lost in our modern day. We know it won’t always be easy or peaceful but we’ll realize our dream by working together.
We cheered as we crossed the border of Vermont, a family tradition for 55 years. Soon we’ll arrive at our family homestead perched on the mountain and surrounded by forest. There, we’ll reconnect with nature and begin our new adventure in the state we love the most.
Marguerite Jill Dye, Killington
Jill Dye is an artist and writer. She wrote a column called “Mountain Meditations” in the Mountain Times from Aug. 2016 to Oct. 2024.
