You can take the girl off the farm but part of her soul will never leave. Like a tuning fork some things will resonate forever. I live in a lovely suburb in a house that I would have considered fancy as a kid. I have a good job and nice things. I grew up in a hundred year old farm house with a basement dug by horses and a large bucket. In case you aren’t conversant, that is a brag not a put down. Talk to people from rural areas and building age is a boastful thing. I won’t describe the barn by saying it was red, I will tell you my grandpa helped build it as a young man. It was constructed with wooden pegs in beams instead of modern construction, and all done by hand which is how a local man fell and died in the process.

The best thing I can tell you about the last week is how I saw these amazing clouds out my front door and grabbed the kids to come look at them. Two gigantic billowing pillars were parted and the light of the sunset glowed from between them. They swelled and drifted and made me feel small like standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon.

I love a fancy delicious dinner, and I confess to taking a picture sometimes when my husband cooks something so amazing I have to pause before eating. However, I also love food that tastes like a hug but isn’t Instagram ready like a hot beef commercial, the broth soup he makes when someone is sick, or crock pot chili.

I confess to liking a good sheet mask and occasional avocado toast. It isn’t that the old fashioned things are better or more pure. They are just wonderful in a different way. A spa day makes me feel glamorous. A good conversation around a firepit watching fireflies makes me feel grounded.

When my children are grown and I no longer need proximity to good schools you will find me with my butt on a rock and my eyes on the horizon, counting waves or identifying birds as they meander by. Thanks to technology I will work from my home office, after a morning of watering flowers or walking along a country road. I can’t speak for people who grew up in urban places. Do they go to the country and long for the noise and people? Some must, or the sleeping apps wouldn’t offer “Street Noise” as an option.

I’ll keep enjoying all the things available to me, but the crickets out tonight are singing my song. I hope this week something crosses your path that is singing yours.