a great book…..

I love to read and yet I haven't had a book in my hands for quite some time now. At least not a book just for the pleasure of reading and relaxation. There was a book that I have had my eye on for many months and I recently decided I was going to buy it and then I searched it online at our local library and they had it! Perfect! I picked it up on Tuesday and once I had started into the first few pages I couldn't put it down and finished it the next day!  I was spellbound by the writings of a woman who was experiencing something that I somehow related to. If you read on you will wonder how that works since she became a farmer and I am not that at all, but I am certain that in any one of my many former lives that I was that pioneer woman who lived off the land and lived a life not unlike hers. It was just all too familiar to me for it to be less than true.

The book tells of a woman from the big city of New York who leaves what she knows as her comforts and heads to the country to follow a man and his passion for farming. My intrigue with all of this was the transition from the complexity of city living, to the simplicity of a bucolic lifestyle. That impression I must say is a superficial one because we all know that any lifestyle will have its difficulties and complications that will lend itself to anything but simplicity. I though, viewed it in it's most simplest of terms for myself. I live in an small city compared to many and it's really not all that demanding on me. I traverse through my life fairly well but I am longing for that time in my life when things can slow down and be less demanding of my time. Maybe it's because I am in my late 50's and I have lived the 'busy' life, with a career that I still participate in and raising three children in my former years and now I have a longing to change it's pace. There will always be demands but we can choose what that will look like and then the outcomes are so very different. My story isn't much different than many others out there, but for me I feel 'my time' is arriving. It's becoming far more important for me to look at life and realize what I need from it to make me happy. I have so much already in place that makes my life a happy one but the one thing that I long for is a life in the country. This is so ironic in ways because I grew up as a child in the country and felt that it restricted me so much that when I married and moved to the city I vowed I would never, ever live in the country again! Ever! But that pioneer woman inside of me is telling me now to go back. Oh how things change, and then we change and then life also changes. 

The 'call' to someday return to country living is what drew me to this book. The woman in the book left the hectic life of the big city, but for her it was the city life that she knew so well and then in turn was not difficult for her because for her it rang with familiarity. She moved to the country and began a new life that was very unfamiliar to her and at first filled with so many different types of demands, but over time she knew that her heart was happiest in this environment living the life that she chose and that 'her' time had arrived in life. I came to understand that at the end of each day it is what we choose to fill our life with that makes the difference. As I read through the pages of her story that had me so very riveted, I knew that what she had chosen was bigger than anything I would ever undertake at this time in my life, but it reinforced my understanding of what it means to choose a life that you are happy with. It's so important to choose things in life that are of course responsible, but also those that feed our soul and make us happy. We know deep down what they are and it's a matter of listening to that inner voice and taking that step even though sometimes it will feel risky and those first few steps will feel like you are wearing a new shoe instead of the comfort of one that is well broken in. Kristen in the the book followed her heart and many times might have questioned her choice, but in the end she knew that it was what she needed to do. I loved the conviction she had in making this the life she needed for herself. It makes me believe that I can have my country life or a resemblance of such and live out my years more quietly and more simply. Every life has its challenges and yet it's all about choice and what we decide to make of it. The author chose a life that her heart embraced and I have much of that now. I am looking for just one more piece of the puzzle to finish it and it will manifest when it is ready. Until then I choose to participate less with a hectic lifestyle and live simply instead. 

I hope that your choices are ones that your heart embraces. 

Btw…..the book is titled "The Dirty Life" by Kristin Kimball. Check out her website for more info on her book and her life on Essex Farm.

Blessings, 

Maggie