unexpected joys of my urban evacuation

grown from seeds from KY

While my move has included more hardship than I anticipated it has also brought a lot of unexpected joy. 


My neurotic little dog who was hell bent on murdering everyone in the city has become docile and, dare I say, happy. She loves being a country dog and would spend 24 hours a day hunting lizards and grasshoppers if I let her. She also gets to romp in the pond and roll in animal remains, which she clearly adores. 

gourd flower smells like watermelon

I have multiple gardens and flowers blooming everywhere. Every time I look at my cosmos and morning glories I feel so proud. My boyfriend and I planted a willow tree, some hydrangeas and gardenias. Watching them grow makes us enormously happy. And daydreaming of them being huge one day, with our children playing beneath them, is deeply satisfying. 

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I have two clotheslines. This brings me unexpected, immeasurable joy. I actually try to make sure I have clothes on the line when a friend is coming to visit. I am so damn proud of my clotheslines. I love to think of all the energy and money I am saving by not using the dryer, which also gives me some sort of weird smug pleasure. I also get this sort of historical nostalgia as I put my clothes on the line, which makes me feel grounded and timeless.
  

opening at dusk

I love driving on country roads, rarely going through a single traffic light and sometimes not even seeing another car. I believe that this alone is going to help me live longer. I could feel the stress of big city traffic aging me and seeping into other parts of my life, especially after living in a city with few viable alternatives to driving. I would often think of Henry Rollins' simile of someone wasting your time being equivalent to being stabbed with tiny daggers, killing you slowly. All the time sitting in traffic was time I could never get back, time I could have spent painting or reading or laughing with friends. No matter how I tried to adjust my attitude about traffic, telling myself it was "my NPR time" or simply trying to just accept it as part of my life, it made me angry and stressed everyday. 

I love seeing a large flock of wild turkeys cross my yard or driving down my gravel driveway late a night to see a doe and her two yearlings. These are the types of experience I was looking for when I moved here.
  
I love going running with my dogs off leash, watching them roam and run and sniff at will, being able to just be dogs, without the rules of city living. I love that on these runs I rarely see another human and have no need to feel self conscious...my running outfit isn't hip enough...I run weird...people are judging me because I am walking...all gone. 


I love the way the air smells, like trees and flowers and wet earth. Not like buses and cars and trash. I like the way the sky looks, clear and clean and blue, not brownish-gray. Seeing a healthy looking sky somehow makes me feel healthier too. 


I love heating our home with a wood burning stove, and having enough wood on our property to do so. I feel like Laura Ingalls Wilder in the best way. Hell, I might even make some maple syrup candy when it snows. 


I love checking the rain gauge and logging the rainfall. I know I could have done this in the city but I just never had the time. I feel closer to the earth. And that is why I am here. 


And maybe best of all? Whenever one of my friends does come to see me, with out fail, they tell me that I seem so happy, look so happy. And overall, I really am. 


Now I'm going to go wash my dog.