The Steady Flow of Simple Pleasures

Last night Emery sat down next to me with a pad of paper, he had two pens in his hand and a grin on his face, "was I ready for some games of tic tac toe ?" "Sure !" We played until we realized that no one was ever going to win a game, it was always a "cats game". We ended up playing Carrom and some impromptu ten pin on the carrom board. Like little kids we were reluctant to give up our game in order to head off to bed, but our days start early ! When we were down on the floor playing Carrom, I noticed some dust bunnies living under the sofa. Amazing the different view you get of things when you are sitting on the floor. I decided today was floor day in the living room. As I was just finished mopping, there was a happy hello at my front door. Melanie and Mei-Ling were out for their morning walk and stopped off to say hello.
I feel so rich, so abundantly filled with blessings of love and a continued joy of motherhood, spilled over into grand-parenting. I don't need fancy things, more things to accumulate. I have a far greater joy in my heart than what is found in things. I have no need to impress others with having this or that, no need to feed an emptiness inside my heart, because there is no emptiness. I have a steady flow of the simple pleasures in life that gives all I need and the time to enjoy them.
So long ago, when we first married, we made choices, choices other people thought were a bit crazy, one income, homeschooling, homesteading, not measuring our lives up against the lives of "mainstream" Americans. We were snickered at by family and friends alike. We still are. Our old car is one of those things we are made fun of the most. We have money for a new one, but we like our station wagon, it runs fantastic, is paid for, it can hold a bale or two of hay, haul feed, take a goat someplace, hold our camping equipment, hold 7 people and Emery can fix it himself if he wants to. We seem to be motivated by what we see as needs and not wants, well maybe there is a want with this old car of ours, I still want it ! A car is a thing to us and not a status symbol. I am not in fear of getting stranded in our car. Neither are our children, they know Dad has kept it in tip top shape all these years. We are not in the need of impressing anyone with what we drive. Our car meets our needs and our "thing" works, it ain't broke. Melissa took the very same car to college that once held her booster seat and Melanies car seat. We kept it that long. We all sorta shed a silent tear when it finally was laid to rest. We would rather spend our money on things we see as needs in the world. We also like investing in our lifestyle, in our homestead life, and things like new cars and fluffy towels (giggle) hold no appeal to us. Our life has been so much less stressed than the lives of so many we know and that is/was always our goal. We are now reaping the benefits of many of the choices made so long ago and for us, its what keeps a steady flow of simple pleasures coming our way.

Life today, at home, simple stuff, a clean shiny floor, the sun shining in, the beauty of motherhood and grand-mothering.