Life On The Farm: Uphill, Both Ways
Things are getting stressful.
7/19/20262 min read
Life On The Farm: Uphill, Both Ways
Have you ever tried to walk up a down escalator? I have. At the mall. I did it too. It's tough though. Every time you take a step, you get a quick glimpse of the newest designer clothes strategically placed at the apex. Of course, they are fabulous and you push harder to get to them.
Well, that's kind of how Brian and I are feeling these days, Every day, with every phone call from a lawyer, a realtor or a mortgage broker, we see more and more of the fabulousness at the top step, only to have it fade out of sight. It forces us to take a bigger stride, harder this time, to glimpse it once again. Occasionally, our shoelaces get chomped by the teeth of the stairs and we have to abandon our shoes and go barefoot.
SIDEBAR
Actually I haven't been going barefoot recently since the trauma of the week. Another mouse in the apartment. It was both rewarding and traumatizing at the same time. It was rewarding in that, this time, Brian actually saw it. It wasn't me ranting about a phantom critter he barely believed to be there. It was traumatizing because this time it was hiding in and around my side of the bed. Also because much to my surprise and maybe even the surprise of our little friend, he was able to get up and run on the 6" floor molding, putting him that much closer to my pillow. In any case, after the karmic debate of which type of traps to use, my Braveheart; Brian succumbed to my frantic neurosis.
Mr. Mouse #4- R.I.P.
END SIDEBAR
I pause as I write this to gaze out the sliding doors from my bed, look beyond our favorite Willow tree to a different tree. A taller tree, probably 75 feet. Its broader too. It is the highest point around and through the pink haze of the sunrise, I can see a raven flying in from the
east to perch on the highest leaf on the top branch. He turns and faces toward whence he
came, flaps his wings and calls. I know a transformation is near.
I wonder if my children and their children will ever grasp the concept of what we have done for ourselves and ultimately, them. I know I will try to explain it to them to teach them the value of hard work and that "great risk reaps great rewards" and all the jazz that comes from building
character... yadda yadda. I have a feeling all that may come out sounding old school. God forbid I sound old school. I am the cool Aunt (dammit!) and vow to be the cool Mom too. I guess maybe my elders felt that way too yet I can still hear..."when I was your age I had to walk
to 10 miles to school, with no shoes, in 3 feet of snow, uphill, both ways..." yet that really IS what it feels like.
Will it be worth it?
Oh, man, I hope so!