The Simple Home

Last night we had a couple Gas Well folk here for signing the gas lease. Big fancy car, young men with money to spend. One had been here before and when he came he commented on our home, he loved it. We smiled and said thank you. You could tell he meant it and that it wasn't just one of those polite comments made to flatter you.
Last night when he came in, he seemed to feel so comfortable, like he was visiting his families farm or something, almost pleased that he already knew us a bit. His co-worker was like a child in a candy store. He was tall and our ceilings are low, this is an old house, low ceilings were not uncommon...he reached up and patted the large cedar beam that runs across the room and said, "whew I like this house" He sat in my rocker and announced he loved the chair and wants one just like it for himself some day. He glanced around the room, noting what books were on the bookshelf, approving of my many German books and commenting on many others. He noted the pictures of my children hanging on the wall and said they were lucky kids to have a home like ours as home. He asked if I knitted when he saw my basket of wool and so I showed him the spinning wheel too, he was amazed. Both young men felt comfortable here, you could see it. Strangers really, young men with lots of money, the gas industry is paying very well and its really like the gold rush days around these parts. But what they liked best, was that our home was so simple and comfortable. We shared with them what we paid for it and how you can take an old house and turn it into a comfortable home for so little compared to what people THINK they have to spend. I believe we may have just opened up the world of simple living to two young men who are in a world so different. Both were in awe that I was always able to be a stay at home mom, it gave them something to think about for their own futures. One of the fellows asked to look at a photo album of our family growing up, he was so in awe of our lifestyle.
The point is, that nearly 100% of the people we have come to visit us, (not so sure about our families though) love the simplicity of our home and tell us they wish they had that same freedom from peer pressure etc to live less complicated, out of debt and so unencumbered by wants. Its like swimming against the current in some ways since our world is heading at break neck speed the opposite direction, but it sure is worth it.