I don't know how this happened, it just happened...
I feel like any introduction to this property needs to include its history, so let's go back a couple decades.
Approximately 19 or 20ish years ago, my wonderful, beautiful aunt had a vision to create an outreach to help people in the area. She wanted to create a food bank and a shelter for the unhoused, among other things. The first step of that was the purchase of this acre and construction of this building, which was to house the social worker's office, and have a small space that could be used as an emergency apartment.
It was never to be, though, as very soon after beginning this process, she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. She died in March of 2003, and construction on the site ceased. The outreach continued in a limited capacity for a while but eventually closed. So, this building has always been a source of sadness for me because it made me miss her.
Because of this, when it was suggested that we purchase it from the non-profit, I was hesitant. Also, though it's a good quality building, I want to build a structure that is optimized for off grid living.
My 18 year old son, on the other hand, loves the location and really wanted it. Seeing him so excited about the possibility made me think of my aunt. He was only 2 months old when she died. In those last few weeks, even though she was in so much pain, she would light up when I brought him into the room. I've missed that smile so much, but there I was looking at it on my son's face. So, I needed to make it happen.
And now it has...
There's a lot of work to do before we can move in. The inside is unfinished, with the only interior walls being the ones that were put up for the bathroom. There are bathroom fixtures, but no running water. Also, it's still full of stuff from the people who had been allowed to store things in it over the years. They were given 30 days to move their items, so they have another week and a half before we can start removing them. After that point, we'll be able to start clean up and get moved in. In the meantime, we're doing what we can do while working around their stuff.