A retirement homestead in Kansas.

Vera Dean

Hoisington, Kansas

"The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." How many times have I heard that phrase in my lifetime? Never really gave it much thought -- it was just one of those things that people say. Looking back, though, I suppose there really is some substance to it. I can remember years of thinking about how much I'd like to move out of the city, get some land, be "out in the country." I remember when we bought our house in the suburbs. We vowed we would only stay there for two years and then, before we had kids, we were going to move to the country. Funny how the years seem to get by when you're not looking. Thirty-five years later we were still living in that same little house. The kids were grown and gone and we never did make it to the country. It was a good life, though. The house held years and years of happy memories, and the warmth of a home that had heard the laughter of children and seen the love of a family. How does the song go? "Love grows best in little houses." Well, I don't know about that, but there was plenty of love in that little house.

Still, hidden inside me somewhere was that yearning for the country. As our city grew and grew, sprawling across the front range of the Rockies like some inland Los Angeles, the yearning began to surface. The crowds, the pollution, the unending traffic snarls began to be almost more than I could stand. My husband and I had lived there all of our lives, and to watch what was happening to that beloved place was so painful. I suppose, in reality, compared with some other big cities, ours was still not such a bad place to be, but as the headlines began to reflect more and more crime and violence, as the newscasts spoke of drive-by shootings and warned us to lock our doors and stay out of certain neighborhoods after dark, I once again began to wish for a gentler, quieter place to be. A dream, to be sure, because there was really no way we could afford to buy a place with land anywhere and still retire. Nevertheless, the idea wouldn't go away. I spent endless hours looking at the real estate listings, searching for something decent that would be within our price range. Often, when I had time off from work, I would drive around, looking at places for sale. It wasn't long before we realized that even though we had a home to sell, we still wouldn't have …