Picture this. First day of 8th grade for me at Calapooia Middle School. I enter my Advanced English class & sit down with my friends that I'd had for 2 whole years. ( the longest I went to any school was 3 years as we moved a lot) Our first assignment of the year is to interview a fellow classmate & then present the info the following day-cake for advanced English students, right?! The next day we all settle in for a fun time of learning new things about our friends & classmates. My friend Andi gets up & tells the class that when I grow up I want to be a pig farmer's wife. A couple presentations later another presenter lets us all know that Andy Johnson wants to be a pig farmer...no joke! I'll let you guess who overheard the interview & tailored his or her answer to fit the day. (Note: when I moved at the end of the year I was shocked when I read in my yearbook that Andy Johnson had had just as much of a crush on me as I'd had on him ;)
I tell you this story because I've come to a huge realization this week. This is it! I've arrived! My dream of being a farmer's wife & all the romantic pioneer woman books I read have come true. I know it's just a hobby farm but I get to wake up & do farm chores! I haul water to animals in my barn (the water lines weren't finished before the ground became a tundra), muck stalls, feed animals, gather eggs, watch eagles, hawks, & other birds fly over our land. I love listening to my rooster crow & my goats bleat & the steer lowing. While I am deathly allergic to cats, I have 8 kittens that I love to watch & cuddle (with my layers of covering & immediate washing afterward). My dog is a perfect fit for our family. The deer running through. The fox across the road that lives in the brush. I don't enjoy going to town SO I DON'T except for church & grocery items & very important "meetings" with my gals a couple times a month. It's fabulous!
I told Jeremy that I can't ever move back to town. I didn't realize how much all that white noise bothers me. Did you know that you can hear lights? It hurts my head. The noise of furnaces, music in stores, and many other things irritates me now. Or maybe it always did & I didn't even know it. I find absolute peace walking in the stillness down my hill to stand by the creek. I can hear the water underneath the ice (unless one of my kids comes too). Even the cold & snow don't bother me as much out here. I used to get cabin fever in town since we have winter for what feels like 8mo of the year. It's not that bad out here.
I love my life! The sights, the smells, the sounds, the peace. It's all perfect for us! I'm so excited to do it again tomorrow! I pray that this never gets old.