I have a confession to make, right here in the blogosphere, in front of everybody:
I'm suffering from blog envy. Or perhaps, really, it's more than that. I'm suffering from lifestyle envy. Or, perhaps, it's both.
Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't trade my husband and children for anything. I like being me. But I am so tired of living in a typical suburban house on a typical suburban lot with oh-so-typical suburban neighbors. I'm tired of driving to the grocery store and buying lettuce in a bag and grainy orange tomatoes and having to pay a tremendous premium for my chicken that is free-range and hormone-free.
I'm tired of spending so much time and energy worrying about the grass being weed-free and the lawn edged. I'm tired of having to get in my car all of the time to go anywhere.
I read the blogs (starting here) of those with homes in the country and chickens, goats, cows and a pantry full of home-grown, home-canned good things and I long to have that. I wish that I could sew and knit and do all those homey domestic things.
Maybe this is just one of my frequent "bugs" that I get. Maybe I'll wake up next week and be glad I don't have to touch the dirt with my freshly-manicured nails. But today I really want a small farm.
blogging
life
4 comments:
Oh stop. If you could see it here today - hot, muggy, knee-deep mud, flies everywhere,no air conditioning -- you might change your mind and want to run straight back to the nail salon and the starbucks.
I experience that kind of envy on a regular basis. One of my best friends just moved into her dream home in the country. On Monday I'm driving down to spend the day with her. The cool thing is I can go visit anytime I want, but I don't have to feed the animals. ;-) The not so cool thing is that I do start to feel a tiny bit envious of the peace and quiet, the space, the privacy, and the pace of life they have there.
My daughter spent a couple of days there earlier this month and she said, "I didn't know how unfulfilling my life was until I came here." How's that for a load of mother guilt? :-P Of course, my friend gave the girls a break from any chores so they were free to play the whole time. She'd feel differently if she had to work like they normally do.
I'd love to have a bit more room for a larger garden. And for that matter I'd love to have a freezer in my basement to keep all those things I may some day grow!
I love to visit the livestock animals. But I would not like to care for them all by myself and I'm the only one in my household not cursed with allergies. I guess we're a certified city family.
I know what you mean, Jane -- about both the blog envy (which keeps me constantly tinkering with my whole blog setup, as well as investigating other "better" options...), and about the lifestyle envy.
There are times, like this past weekend, where I experience some serious dissatisfaction with what I've done, what I'm doing, and what I will do (as well as where all that will happen!).
I try to fall back on the whole doctrine of vocation, as well as putting that worrisome burden back at the foot of the Cross. IOW, I resist the temptation to think/believe that I can and/or should try to solve it all myself.
In the end, I don't think that any one lifestyle is "better" than another -- IOW, agrarian/rural isn't better than suburban. Daily bread is given to us in many different forms. Besides, if I had to live without benefit of climate control (especially on a 90+ degree day like today), I'd be one horrifically unhappy camper! ;^)
-ghp
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