Save Lea’s Homestead!

Hi,

my name is Josh and I'm writing on behalf of someone well-known in our Northern Michigan community, Lea Hough (Slattery) and Brian Clements. If you had the opportunity to meet them then you were truly blessed to have known such a powerhouse couple. Brian was larger than life in his antics and his carefree attitude, and if there was an hour of daylight left then there was time to crack a cold one and turn up some classic rock and work on a project. Never one to back down from starting a new project or to ask for help, he always found a way to tackle every challenge sent his way. Who knew bumping into a grieving widow in 2013 at a NASCAR race would propel him down a path toward his greatest challenge and purpose in life, rebuilding the human heart? This wasn’t the project a happy-go-lucky dude from McBride, Michigan set off to start, but sometimes your calling finds you and leaves you speechless and clear-headed in purpose. What can you say about love? That it waits for life to be convenient for you? That it schedules itself onto your calendar like a doctor's visit? It doesn’t, true love comes on so fast and hard it leaves you staggered like you were kissed by a runaway freight train and your world is spinning. That was what Brian felt after an afternoon spent in Lea’s company, it left him laser-focused on what he needed to do, he had to take things a bit more seriously and that required growing up. Just like all growth it starts with the uncertainty of an untraveled path to chase your dream and move farther away and settle into the walls of a home built by a woman too stubborn to give up on her goals. So, they started building together in the true northern Michigan way, piece by piece, project by project. Whether it was by salvaging cabinets and refinishing them while living in the basement or washing dishes in the bathtub in between building a kitchen or hanging drywall. The music played and the memories were made through the years as they continued to grow together, projects they completed sprouting around the homestead and serving as tributes to the woman he loved, the greenhouse and orchard they built and planted, the dog room and established garden beds. Everywhere you look snapshots of him frozen in time throwing the hang ten gesture followed by a hearty “Ert! Ert!” would greet you upon arriving at the house. Lea is surrounded by the love and memories that only happen when a man loves a woman and plans on growing old and grey next to her on a front porch watching the seasons roll by. He was always looking for a reason to get out on the water, whether be it cruising around lake Charlevoix or fishing any mention of water and he was there. Watching my kid's smiles light up whenever told Grandpa Brian was taking them out on the boat was priceless or teaching them how to make the biggest splash jumping off the back of the ramp. He impacted all our lives and left a big hole behind in our world. So when tragedy struck and he was taken from us in the night at 46 years old he left a staggering crater in his wake and her soul. Nobody wants to be awoken in the middle of the night to the sound of panic in your mother's voice, we grew up with our mothers being the source of reassurance, what do you do when life turns the tables on you and you are the one reassuring her that it will be alright and we will find a way to slowly heal and move forward.

OUR GOAL.

Here is where we need you, right now we live in a world full of uncertainty, where tomorrow is not promised, and we must fight for everything that we love and hold dear. No matter your walk of life, your background, or the flavor of love you pursue, we are all in a community when it comes to understanding and wanting to stay close to the person you love. Lea is doing everything within her power to be able to maintain her independence and continue to live on the homestead her and Brian created together, in the coming weeks you will see items being listed for sale all in the goals of being able to save up the funds to be able to buy an enclosed and heated tractor to maintain her driveway and seasonal road in the winter and spring. For those not familiar in rural parts of Northern Michigan there are what is known as a seasonal road in which the county or state does not keep snowplowed in the winter or spring and the ability to get in and out of your home rests solely on you. Their goal was to buy an enclosed tractor to be able to maintain their independence well into their old age. I’m not asking you to put a tractor in the driveway but I’m asking you to donate just a few dollars, the cost of a drive-thru coffee in the morning adds up over time and together with our sweat equity and your financial contribution we can help cement her dream into a solid foundation as a testimony to their dream and love.

I just want to thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope that you have a wonderful day and take the time to hug your loved ones and remember what’s important to you at the end of the day.

V/r

Josh Thurston.