It's hard to imagine a happier place on a Tuesday afternoon than Price and Tammy Woodward's cove-side home. Outside, it's breezy and peaceful. Inside, it's a symphony of positivity: laughter, pool sticks striking a cue ball, and views of Lake Oconee through one glass wall and of wine bottles through another glass wall.
"We are immensely blessed," Price says.
He and Tammy use some form of "blessed" as much as any other word to describe their lives. "Challenging" would be a close second.
"What we've been going through has not been easy," Tammy says, before adding, "but moving to Reynolds has blessed us in ways that are hard to put into words."
There they go again. The Woodwards manage to combine gratitude with the details of how their lives have changed so dramatically from the time they first started coming to Reynolds more than 20 years ago. Back then, it was simply their summer getaway to have fun and relax.
[Tammy] We were training for marathons. Between the two of us, we've run Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, as well as smaller races. Price also climbed the 14,000-foot Mt. Rainier. In summers, we'd drive from our home in St. Louis to drop off our three daughters at a camp in North Carolina and then Price and I would stay with my sister's family at Great Waters. [Price] We'd get up early to run all the roads and trails, looking at the terrain, the houses, and the golf courses. Those were special times.
[Tammy] Time seemed to slow down here. We loved where we were living in St. Louis, but as soon as we arrived at Reynolds, the stress would disappear. We were always outside, always active. Every day we were waterskiing or playing golf or tennis. [Price] I liked to tell people we could take a 7 a.m. flight from St. Louis to Atlanta, stop at Chick-fil-A off I-20, and still be on the Great Waters golf course by noon.
[Tammy] We eventually bought my sister's house to have a stake in the ground. We could have stayed at The Ritz-Carlton when we visited, but we knew it might be too easy to make excuses not to come. [Price] That house was a second home, but it drew us closer and closer until we began to seriously think about living here full time.
[Price] Everything came to a halt in 2015. Our youngest daughter had gone away to college, so we were empty nesters thinking, "What do we want to do now?" God answered in a way we did not see coming.
[Tammy] I remember that Saturday vividly. It was January 11. We were in St. Louis. Price had gone to the gym and came home feeling as healthy as ever. Early the next morning I heard him make a strange noise in his sleep. I knew something was wrong. Within the hour, he was in ICU and the doctors were telling me he'd suffered a major stroke. I remember thinking, "How could this happen to someone who took such good care of himself? And now what do we do? How different will our lives be?"
[Price] I had to reinvent myself. The stroke compromised the entire left side of my body. We moved into a condo in Atlanta for two years while I went through intense therapy. We'd come out to our Reynolds home whenever possible. In a way, it was the best kind of therapy because of the people and the peaceful environment. [Tammy] We came to a point where we decided this is where we needed to be full-time.
[Tammy] This home become part of our transformation. DreamBuilt and Black Sheep Interiors designed it for easy mobility and so we could re-structure our lives around entertaining. The bar, the pool table, and the 1,000-bottle wine room are part of the open gathering space instead of being tucked away. [Price] We use all of it because people are here a lot.
[Price] Our friendships are different now. Before my stroke, it felt like we were always passing through neighborhoods on our training runs. Now we share life with friends over a bottle of wine or at the pool. We've all been through something.
[Tammy] This is the space I want people to see. [Walks into Price's study.] The design team collected our marathon photos and memorabilia and used them without changing the frames. So, you walk through the beautiful new home, with iron, stone, and glass, and within the "new" you also find the unique story of our lives.
[Tammy] We both had to change. The day before the stoke, we were runners, tennis players, living what we thought were our best lives. I still run and do some cross-fit, but no it's for pure enjoyment. [Price] There are times when I miss my old self, but I won't sit around and wallow in self-pity. That isn't me.
[Price] There's too much to enjoy here. I've learned to shoot pool with one hand, play golf with one hand, and shoot a gun with one hand and an unstable stance. The best part is doing it with great neighbors and friends. [Tammy] we still stay busy, but now it's by choice.
[Price] We watch sunsets. We look at stars. We appreciate nature. It's easy to forget these simple, beautiful things when you're always going 100 miles an hour.
[Tammy] We're finding a peace we weren't sure we'd ever experience. I'm not sure it would have been possible if we hadn't moved to Reynolds. [Price] it hasn't been easy, but God has been good. His blessings are all around us, and we count them every day.
