One of the first times Hayley & I got to know Lorne & Kelli was at my stepdad Paul’s 60th birthday on New Years Eve in Florida. Mel - my mom - had enlisted all the kids to help make food for the party, so we were all down there for the celebration. We didn’t know many people at the party outside of our family, but everyone we spoke with seemingly had heard of us, and knew who we were. The drinks were flowing, and it started to get overwhelming being confronted by all these new faces, drink in hand, who would say “You’re Zack! And you must be Hayley! I know all about you!”
So Hayley and I found a spot that was outside, under the lanai, but just at the end of the porch around a corner where no one walked. We were hidden, but could still hear the party. It was perfect. We were still technically “at the party”. Every time we heard someone coming, we’d stop talking, and they wouldn’t venture around the corner. Eventually, one of my stepbrothers found our secret hideout, and we pulled him in to keep it secret. We held out for a while. But then Lorne & Kelli wandered around the corner. They were the only “adults” who dared wander to the end of the long porch, and we thought the jig was up. The secret hideout was busted!
We openly lamented being found out, but Lorne & Kelli were not about to give up our spot. Within moments, Lorne was making jokes and Kelli was so warm and kind toward us. “It’s nice over here. You guys found the best spot in the house!” It was a marked difference in energy from most of the other guests at the party. They knew who we were, but didn’t force what they knew on us, they asked about us, and we asked about them, how they met Mel & Paul, and where they lived. We had very good, very easy conversation and felt immediate mutual respect on all sides.
After we chatted for what seemed like a long time, they both started to head back to the party, and as they left, they assured us our secret was safe with them. I had almost certainly met them both before that, but that was the first time we’d ever spoken without Mel & Paul present. They were warm, easy to speak with, and Lorne was very funny. And they didn’t tell anyone about our secret spot!
Two years later, Hayley and I were going stir-crazy in our 500ft² apartment in Toronto, considering moving out of the city and finding a different way of life. And then all work stopped, and stores closed, and CERB started, and uncertainty was everywhere. Like countless others, we were reassessing our lives and talking with family on a regular basis. My mom mentioned that Lorne owned a farm around the corner from Puslinch Lake, and said that we should ask him about renting it.
After a lot of budgeting and planning and trying to figure out every way in which it could fail, we decided to speak with Lorne during the August long weekend about renting the house. He & Kelli came to Mel & Paul’s island on Puslinch Lake on their boat, and we discussed the terms & responsibilities of the rental with him. And then we shook his hand and all of a sudden we were moving out of Toronto.
If you look up the term “fixer-upper”, there’s a picture of that house in the dictionary. The house was our responsibility, but, when we moved in, Lorne was on the property all the time working on projects. He was taking down fences, cleaning up the bush, taking the stalls out of the barn, cutting the grass, clearing trails, managing the forest, planting trees, going for walks in the forest with friends & family, and always making plans for his next steps. It was very clear to us once we moved in that he relished in making things his own and working hard. He never wanted anything ready made. Things better made with his own two hands.
We could tell that that farm meant a lot to him because of how much time he spent there, and that he was always bringing his family, and his grandkids around. We could tell he wanted to imbue his work ethic and the ensuing satisfaction it brings in his grandkids. We were really touched by his dream of establishing a forest, knowing that the fruits of his labour might not be fully realized in his lifetime. Lorne often lamented how little work he could do while he was coping the stomach virus that was plaguing him for a long time. And Hayley & I would look at each other and quietly wonder: “Wait — he usually has more energy than this?”
After we moved out, when he’d recovered from the virus, we saw the manifestation of him at full capacity. The way he changed the stables into the drive shed, poured a new foundation, refinished the walls, revitalized the driveway, installed a bathroom, removed the old fences, and numerous other ways in which he transformed that place were all astounding. And that was just in that spot. One had to wonder what other changes were happening when his truck wasn’t parked out back at the farm.
We were so incredibly lucky to have been there even though the time was short. We were there less than a year. It was more than just a house though – that house was a tall list of repairs that we were learning how to do as we went. It was an opportunity to learn how to live in an incredibly different way from which we were accustomed. We knew that living there would be a lot of work, and it was, but in the journal I write in daily, I read back and see how often I say how relaxing it was to be there. Having access to that forest was healing too.
Living there was life changing. The amount of happiness we were afforded being in that environment greatly out-weighted all the challenges we faced while living there. We got to prove to ourselves that we were capable of making some pretty drastic changes to the way we lived. We would not have had that without Lorne’s willingness to take a chance on us. Lorne renting that house to us affirmed a way of life we now know we want to work toward. Without that opportunity Lorne offered us — without that gift — we wouldn’t have our personal vision of what our future would look like. We could never overstate the respect and appreciation we have for the ways in which Lorne affected us.
Thank you, Lorne. Thank you so much.
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