Do you find yourself rushing through your days, sometimes out of necessity but sometimes just out of habit? Yep, me too.. stop doing that.
There was a time when I punched a clock and work hours were this time to that time with a lunch break in-between. Then I was a stay at home mom, which I adored. Now I work part time as editor of a local publication, but out of my own home, so I make my own hours. The care and keeping of this house and farm and Stella*by *the *Sea fill the other spaces. In all those phases I have kept a certain pace – and if I stopped the forward march I felt like I was slacking or falling behind, so I didn’t. Now, when you’re juggling a 9 to 5 somewhere outside the home and then have to fit the family and home care in, there’s little choice. But when there is some flexibility – for the love of all things worthy, slow the heck down. My new mantra.
Surely you’ve heard it, take time to smell the roses. The other night while I was feeding and watering and blanketing horses up on the hill, thinking of all the food prep ahead of me for the family Christmas gathering…. I almost missed the gorgeous sunset happening right behind the barn. I closed the last stall door, shut off the lights and began my hurried rush down to the house to get more “stuff” done… and noticed the golden hue reflected on the house. So I glanced backward… and stood in awe of what was before me. I took a full ten minutes to breath in the crisp winter air and behold the incredible sky and light. Our neighbor ‘s son across the street sent me a text in those moments (always with the phone in the pocket or taking pics, as you can see)… he said “Margaret and I are enjoying that sunset over your hill too”. Margaret is our 95 year old neighbor… I love that she still gets to witness those sunsets on the hill. She’s been enjoying that view you see below for many many years.
We get so busy making a life that sometimes we forget to truly live it. What are we rushing around for if we don’t get to enjoy the fruits of our labor? For me, part of
living it is appreciating this gorgeous natural world we live in.
* this pic was taken just before the fresh Christmas snow we got in the nick of time.
Another blogger, Debbie, wrote about something that struck a cord with me – why she moved away from NYC and cherishes her life in the mountains of Upstate, NY. We share the same reasons we moved away from that area, both young at the time. The noise, the crowds, the traffic, the pollution. Now and then instead of getting all caught up in the “stuff I need to get done”, I try to take stock of what we’ve accomplished here and just plain enjoy the ride. I want to do more of that.
On this little farm I have what I’ve always wanted – a home for family to gather and a beloved family to fill it, fields to walk with my dogs, a small horse barn and pastures for grazing those horses I love, and heck I wouldn’t have guessed it back in the dreaming stage but I do love my chicken coop too! Who knew. The grounds outside the windows of This Old House 2 are my idea of a heavenly place to live, and I’m just so grateful for the opportunity. I’m so glad all those many years ago I stuck my adopted ancient horse in a rented horse trailer, (keeping a horse in an Urban/Suburban area like Staten Island was an experience)…. gathered all the courage I could muster and took a big leap of faith by moving to the country. I did have family supporting my decision and efforts and boy does that help.
Those leaps of faith- they may seem treacherous, daunting, foolish even!… but oh so worth it if you muster your way through. And whatever you do – where ever you find yourself – I hope you take a time out now and then, I hope you slow the pace to live your life full.
