My hometown sits on the sprawling edge of a big city, my state’s biggest, actually. Yes, I lived in a rural community as a kid, but I didn’t know anything about actual country living until I married Greg. Many years ago, his parents built their dream home on a farm just south of the Kentucky-Tennessee state line, where my cell phone doesn’t usually work and sometimes a key road sign is laying down after a storm. The well water tastes good and the view of natural beauty calms my soul.
And my kids really like it there too.
Sometimes in the afternoon at our own house in town, they ask to watch movies and play games on a my phone. I tell them to go play with something else and each other instead. They usually do. But it’s like they can’t figure out what they want to do. They have toys, more toys than any kid needs. Ben wants to disrupt Cate’s creative energy of drawing and writing and coloring. And Cate wants to know what’s happening next and how her little brother can be properly occupied until she’s ready to play with him.
Thankfully, it’s been nice out, so they’ve found entertainment with each other out in the back yard. It’s a taste of what it’s like out on Gran-Gran’s farm. {I also thought “farm” applied to animals, but now in my small town farther away from any major city limits I understand it can also mean large pieces of land. Although, Greg’s dad did once have cows, which have made of many family stories.}
Out on Gran-Gran’s farm, the kids seem more willing to run and play and explore and share and imagine. I can read and dream out there while hearing my kids playing in the distance. There is room there. Room to roam. Room to think. Room to slow down.
{This is where we recently celebrated Easter, which is when the joy-filled four-wheeling picture above was snapped, and Greg’s 35th birthday.}
Yes, this surprises me, the girl who thought her dream was live in the hustle and bustle of a big-city newsroom. I’m not sure I’d hear the giggles and impromptu playing, see the smiles and relaxed interaction, or experience the peace like I do on Gran-Gran’s farm had I not surrendered my life to the One who knows my dreams better than I do myself.
I feel created for this life. The one right here in a small town on the winding edge of farmland. The one with these people who call me wife, momma, Aunt Kristin, daughter and friend. And even though I know this is where I’m meant to be, I still find myself pleasantly surprised.
I’m linking up with Kristen at Chasing Blue Skies. This is the third in what has become a little mini-series on my small-town life. {The other two are A Good Goodbye and Jumping In.} Obviously, the fact I love where I am continues to surprise me.
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