WE FINALLY HAVE THEM. The approved permits. I could cry tears of joy, but I’ll spare you and just say it’s soil in my eye.
It feels surreal to say this, but after months of hurry-up-and-wait, our paperwork has finally been blessed by the magical powers that be. And I’m thrilled. Also mildly traumatized. But mostly thrilled.
Let me back up for a second.
When we first started dreaming about Taeda, I had this peaceful little vision in my head. You know the one: birds chirping, wildflowers blooming, my children frolicking barefoot through flower rows while bees hum in the background. The sun is always golden. Nothing ever needs permitting. Life is simple.
Now imagine that vision slowly unraveling as we entered the reality of… well, reality. Turns out, building something beautiful from scratch takes more than a dream and a Pinterest board. Who knew?
We grossly, and I mean GROSSLY, overestimated how easy it would be to “just get started.” We thought, “We’ll submit the forms, get a little stamp of approval, and boom, let’s plant some peonies.”
Instead, we found ourselves caught in a loop of emails, phone calls, agency-speak, and re-submitting the same document three different ways depending on who was asking. At one point I was pretty sure the actual land was going to sprout a barn before we got a permit for one.
But here we are. Finally on the other side.
We have the green light to inch forward, and suddenly that quiet field feels full of possibility again. No, we haven’t broken ground yet. But we’ve broken through the slow, hard beginning. And we’re inching into the exciting part.
So here’s to underestimated timelines, to learning the hard way, and to the joy of finally seeing the words “approved” in an inbox that usually only brings spam and heartbreak.
We’re starting. For real this time.
And we’re so glad you’re here to walk it with us.
