From City Girl to Country Mama

Life is funny sometimes isn't it?

Once upon a time my life was filled with dreams that looked a lot like an Ikea showroom:

(perfectly pristine, complete with the lack of toys, books, and who knows what strewn over the floor), and was topped off with a large home that I occupied all alone with some massive dogs (think Rottweilers or German Shepherds), for safety, while I slaved day in and out as a Southern California attorney.... on the defense side of the house of course, but why that is may have to wait for a different post. I was a college educated (whatever that means), focused, cut throat individual who sat for hours on the 91 and 5 freeways to get somewhere that would normally take 20 -30 minutes. Life was good! Or so I thought. Who wouldn't want to "have it all?" Boy was I naive! Thankfully I was whisked away from all that by a very patient and loving husband.

For the last 7 years I've followed my husband and have now, for the first time in my life, truly receieved an education. While I still don high heels and big dreams, the above mentioned realities for me seem like they exist in an alternate universe. My dreams look a lot like this now:

.... just makes my heart all aflutter! (There's a child kind of cut out of the picture on the right who is down on the ground with some animals) What's odd is that I NEVER wanted to have children, now we can't stop wondering when the next one will get here. I'd never known, or cared to know, that you could make a cake from scratch, raise chickens (people far away did that right?), grow your own food, or become properly 'learned' outside of a certified public schooling institution.

I'm writing this post today because retirement is weighing heavily upon our minds here at Jorgensen Manor. While retirement to many people means "yay, no more working," around our place we count down to it because it creates even more varied opportunities for work and growth. It's a little tricky trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up when you move every 1-3 years. However, every move we do a little more (like switching to cloth diapers a few years back, making our own laundry detergent, raising 3 chickens despite living on a residential street. etc.) as well as acquire all the information that we can in order to reach our end game.... being self-sufficient. To us, working to start a 50-100+ acre farm 30-40 minutes from the closest town is a beautiful thought! And today, we added a few more specifics to our plans.

This my friends is an Arabian Horse.

I asked a man that we go to church with if we could come out and work for him today in exchange for information on horses. Hubby and I have discussed having horses on our "farm," so I figured today would either solidify that desire or cast it off completely. Well, let's just say my cute honey literally just informed me of a horse (then followed with several more and added on saddles) that he wanted to buy.

Our latest plans? Well, while we have yet to pick a location to buy land since Mr. Wonderful doesn't know what kind of job he'll want to have when he parts ways with the military (he'll be 42 when he retires if he only stays in 20 years), we're getting a little more direction. After time spent with the horses today we now have visions of grandeur that consist of boarding/training horses and making a living off the land together as a family. Settling near a university where we could alternate teaching classes would also help keep funds flowing (turns out money is needed to raise children and have a farm, who knew?), and military pension doesn't hurt.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that dreams can and do come true and you should do all you can to research out your desires. I've learned repeatedly over the last few years to not disregard the thoughts that come to me, even when they seem incredibly obscure.

How my idea of perfect went from this to thisI may never know. Kind of seems like a no brainer now!

But with each day I hope that we'll find the simple things in life that make it so beautiful! May your days be simpler, full of more love, and in pursuit of rekindling lost arts that help will us feed, clothe, educate and inspire our families in the best and worst of times.