Is My Real Life On Backorder?

I think there may be something wrong with me.  You know, I might not be normal.  Hunky Hubby actually told me yesterday that I am not normal, but he says he meant it "in the good way."  I will have to give that more thought.  But my point is this.  A wonderful and talented blogger recently posed a question to her readers.  Her witty and poignant blog is titled My Real Life Is Backordered, and this week she asked readers to tell about the parts of their own lives that are perhaps different than they had planned. I started thinking about what I would say in my comment and I realized something--I don't think I planned anything for my life.  

A similar thought actually came to me 3 years ago when my sister got married.  She told me about how she had been planning the wedding since she was a little girl, and was a bit surprised that I had never given my wedding even a tiny thought...really up until the month before I actually got married!  Oops!  I guess chicks usually care about that kinda stuff.  I didn't know! So now I'm thinking about what young NatureGirl anticipated for her life.  What were her hopes and dreams; goals and aspirations? I gotta tell ya...she must have been busy picking dandelions or something, because I can't think of a thing! I know she planned on getting taller but after that, I am drawing a blank...

What do you want to be when you grow up?  The ubiquitous query posed to even the tiniest wannabe firefighter and ballerina in our society. I am very sure that I never gave this question even a moment's thought until at least Jr. High, and at that point it was "dentist" but quite frankly, I am just not that smart.  I do not think I wanted to be a dentist as much as I wanted to WANT to be a dentist. (If you understood that sentence you are a genius.)  Then sometime in high school I got the artsy fartsy bug and decided I would move to New York and live in resplendent bohemian squalor while getting my dance career going. Only one problem...I didn't actually dance. Not all of the details were worked out.  

I always assumed I would go to college, only I did not know where I would go or what I would study.  Again with the details! When the time came I applied to some schools that looked pretty in the brochures, picked the coolest one, and at 18 headed out into the big wide world of...Provo, Utah. And then, more questions I couldn't answer... 

"So, what's your major?"

"Uh, like do I have to like pick one like soon? (I was from California) I was thinking I could maybe like try some things on for like 5 or 6 years..."

I won't tell you how long it actually took me to graduate, but a normal person could have come out of there with an entire alphabet of degrees instead of just one little B.A.  

I may not have planned the wedding early on, but I did know I wanted to be married and have children.  I pictured lots of little ones gathered around me all the time, reading, writing, painting, learning and loving!  Growing things, discovering things, making things.  We do that. I think I have fewer children than I imagined, but it was a vague number anyway. Probably around 15 or so. Whew!  Maybe I should be thankful for dreams unfulfilled huh? Hubby however is more amazing than I could have dreamed, and I wonder everyday why he chose me.  

So, here I am 13/34ths through life and I still don't know exactly what I want to be when I grow up. So, it seems that everything I never knew I had planned turned out exactly like I never thought it would!  Once in a while that lack of planning thing really works.  I guess I am just waiting to see what happens.  Where this amazing journey of life takes me...

Quote of the Day: "There are only two tragedies in life: One is not getting what you want, and the other is getting it."

--Oscar Wilde amazing playwright

Highly Exaggerated Confessions of a Wannabe Farmgirl

Do we ever stop to think where an Oreo comes from? Do they grow on trees? Bushes? Maybe they are a root cookie. Ok, I exaggerate, so what else is new. How about our carrots or asparagus. Where is it grown?  Who grew it?  How about those awful, hard, tasteless, pulpy masses the grocers pass off as tomatoes?  Where did they get those things? And don't even get me started on Wonder bread.  As in, "I wonder what the heck is in that stuff." 

Most of what we consistently and mindlessly pile into our grocery carts week after week barely passes as food. I am tired of it.  I have been for years.  I will spare you the boring details of my decade long attempt at detox.  That is, eliminating as much of the unrecognizable substances that pass as food, and that our society consumes en masse, from our regular diet as possible without causing a) complete family mutiny or b) thrusting my family into the fringe of society, outcast and labeled with catchy titles like health-nuts, granolas or hippies.  Actually I think I could live with all of that, but really, if anyone is going to make fun of my family, it better be me. 

Over the past few years I have become more and more intrigued with the idea of locavorism and self-sustainability. There is plenty of info out there, so I won't go into detail.  It just feels right.  It just sits well with my nature and what I personally value.  No pressure here to believe what I do, just the random thoughts of one blogging chick.  Ok, so that brings me to my latest adventure. Chickens!  Jimi Hendrix and Yolko Ono joined our little flock last week and are a welcome addition. Just cute little fuzzballs at this point, but the prospect of fresh omelets in my future is good. Plus I got to supervise Hunky Hubby building an adorable coop for the little buggers last weekend--tan, muscly arms, power tools, the smell of raw manliness and sawdust in my nose--oops-

As I was saying.  I just feel the need to be connected to my food. To the earth. To my place on it. As part of it. We have detached ourselves from the dirt.  I love dirt.  I love the way it feels between my toes, and smells when I dig in it.  I played in the dirt alot as a kid, and I guess I just never outgrew it! I still save worms that misguidedly squirm out onto the sidewalk after a heavy rain. They are good for the dirt.  Go worms! Go dirt! Go veggies and chickens and GO LIFE!!!

Quote for the day: "Being cool is about being yourself." 

--Eric W. Cowperthwaite cousin and all around good guy