Description
On September 12, 2001, Randolph and her husband bought a dilapidated farmhouse on twenty acres outdoor Lincoln, Nebraska, and set about gutting and rebuilding the house themselves. They had nine months to complete the work. The project, undertaken at a time of national unrest and uncertainty, led Randolph to reflect on the houses of her past and the stages of her life that played out in each and every, both painful and joyful. As the couple struggles to bring the dilapidated house back to life, Randolph concurrently traces the contours of a life deeply shaped by the Nebraska plains, where her circle of relatives has lived for generations, and how those roots helped her find the strength to conquer devastating losses as a young adult. Weaving together strands of departures and arrivals, new houses and deep roots, cycles of change and the cycles of the seasons, Leaving the Pink House is a richly layered and compelling memoir of the meaning of home and circle of relatives, and how they are able to never in point of fact leave us, despite the fact that we leave them.