Just before Christmas, we spent about a week on this fabulous ranch in the middle of Texas. It was quiet, spacious, the pace of life was nice and slow. There were lots of animals. Coming back to our little town home in the 'burbs has been rough.
For years, The Husband and I have expressed an interest in getting some land so we can put Olde English Babydoll Southdown sheep on it. (I'm the one who is pushing for the sheep.) We want the space, and the quiet. We want to be able to work with our hands.
Did I ever tell you I did a lot of temp work in accounting right after I got married? I did. I was good at it, too. It's a shame I loathed every minute. I enjoyed my time at Head Start a lot more because, even though it was really rough work sometimes, I at least got to get up and move. During nice weather I rode my bike. I know work that requires you to use your body instead of your mind is mostly frowned upon in this day and age, but I like it a lot better. I'm not using my education in Middle Eastern Studies at all, but I don't really mind much because I honestly don't think I would be happy translating newspapers five days a week, anyway.
I have it all planned out in my head: I want chickens (Easter Eggers and Polish ones), a small orchard (Semi-dwarf trees are easiest to care for - we'd have two trees each of apples, peaches, apricots, and cherries, for superior polination), the Babydoll sheep, and an asparagus patch. Maybe even some grape vines. We would raise the sheep for their wool (mostly for handspinners) and the lambs for their meat (I know it might seem heartless but...I REALLY love lamb, and I hardly ever get to eat it because they don't often sell it in the States.).
The only thing is...how do we get from point A (The Husband with a desk job, living in the Suburbs) to point B (doing work that feels more meaningful, living in a place where we don't hear the neighbors' TV or hot tub parties)? How would we work out logistics? How do most people work out those kinds of logistics?
I can't speak for The Husband, but I, for one, am getting really close to selling all our stuff so we can buy five acres in the middle of nowhere. Sigh.
So the only way you are going to do is to just do it. Find a place that you love and you feel like your heart is there and figure out a way to live there. That is what most folks in the country do, they figure a way to make it work.
ReplyDeleteI would recommend that you locate to a rural place that has internet access though, it is a lot easier to reinvent a career with access to internet...
Growing up in the 3rd largest city in CA, I loved it and always wanted to go back. I think I kind of always assumed I'd end up living there again, and DH wanted to move back there again too after we both graduated. I very grudgingly moved out here to what felt like the "middle of nowhere" (but really there's a whole lot more here than most mid-west "middle of nowheres"). It took me a few years, but I finally like it here. I still would LOVE to have a health food store and certain other stores and even a mall within 30 minutes of me (rather than 3 1/2 hours)...But Amazon has become my friend (and often has cheaper prices than health food stores n such anyway!).
ReplyDeleteBut I've come to appreciate the small town now. When we do travel to the Wasatch Front or back to CA, it feels overwhelming....WAY too much traffic, way too long commutes, way too many stores and busy-ness, etc. I always felt a commute was just part of life you just deal with and are patient with, but now as an adult I see it more as a waste of time/life.
I do really long to live somewhere with actual places to go and things to do though. There are things here like...ATVing, fishing, boating, and hunting.....but we don't have ATV's or boats, don't like fishing, and haven't done any hunting....What I'd really like are opportunities that the big city provides: aquariums, zoos, water parks, amusement parks, more...PARKS, comedy group places...just more family entertainment spots I guess. So I still want to be closER to a big city....just not IN the big city.
I also want a mini orchard with apple, orange, peach, apricot, and cherry trees. And maybe avocado or banana trees if they grow wherever we live. ;) I also want huge space for a nice large garden....and lots of running/playing space for the kids and grandkids (someday) to run around. So I guess my new ideal is 'somewhat' in the middle of nowhere, but still within 30 minutes of a "real" city. Not sure how that will work out for us either, but with DH in the process of going back to school for a career change, a lot is up in the air for us at this point.
Sounds like I created a "monster" by having you come and visit. :) Mom and I have felt the same way since we got home. I like my job (most of the time) but I'm really thinking more and more it might be time to start preparing to retire to the country. My ideal location would be less then 90 mins from a temple, international airport, world class medical facilities. It would have temperate weather, and be closs to my grandkids. When I find paradise I'll let people know.
ReplyDeleteI don't know but when you figure it out, let me know! We have similar dreams over here. I have vowed that our next move/house purchase WILL NOT be to a cookie cutter house in the suburbs!
ReplyDeleteA girl I grew up with is doing just what you described, you should check out her blog at mommymita.blogspot.com
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