Simplicity Calls

I always knew it would come to this. My infatuation with large porches, horses, cows, baby goats, and shoot just about any farm animal you can think of. They always seemed to draw my attention no matter where I saw them. Just a glance at someone’s farm or ranch makes me smile, and feel a little less hurried. I absolutely love it.

I grew up in a small town in Mississippi called, Cleveland. If you need a reference most people have heard of Greenville and Greenwood, Mississippi. We are also home to Delta State University. So I grew up in the “dirty south”. As a child my life was fun and pretty simple. My Mom and Dad had at least 10 siblings a piece, so I have more cousins than I can count! But at least 12 of those cousins were like my sisters and brothers. Many of us were raised in-part, under the same roof, and when we weren’t all living in the same house, we were only two to three streets over from one another. So our family was pretty close. Our Grandfather was a Baptist Pastor, who also drove our school bus! (That was fun!) Our Grandmother was a faithful first Lady, who worked at the local plant, and she worked part-time as a cafeteria lady. Both of our grandparents were very hands on in raising all of us cousins. I feel so blessed to have had such a close relationship with my grandparents on both sides of my family.

Our life consisted of:

Family gatherings, school, playing out side, picking fruit and berries, climbing trees, and scaling fish, (my least favorite chore). We were never bored growing up in our small town. Us kids would play games like red light-green light, Mother may I, red rover..We would play dodge ball, chase bees, butterflies, and fireflies. We would push one another inside of tractor tires in huge fields across the street from my grandparent’s house. As a young child my life was simple, and I was happy. We soon moved away from our small town to a big city. Chicago to be exact, and then New York. Yep, getting farther and farther away from my small town roots, I started to notice the difference almost immediately. By the time we made our way to Dallas, Texas I was already a savvy semi-street smart 12 year old. I’ve remained in Texas until now, I’m currently 47.

Although Texas is apart of the south, we live in North Dallas, a pretty affluent suburban close to the city. When you’re in your early twenties there is something exciting about being in a big city. There are so many opportunities and you want to explore as many as you can to increase your chances of “making it”. Well I did all of that. I tried college, landed high paying corporate jobs, married(no kids). Lived in nice big houses, purchased nice designer things, created a lot of debt, and the “rat race” cycle continues. By the time I reached my mid thirties, I was starting to burn out. And by the time I had reached my forties I was over it!

I want my simple life back!