Tomorrow is our seven-year wedding anniversary. Today is the anniversary of two of our dear friends with whom we share a somewhat “double wedding.” And while I’ll spend a little time tomorrow remembering that day and celebrating the life we have built, it’s important for me to pause today and celebrate where we are. It’s been a bit of a rocky month. Darryl’s injury certainly put a damper on our current situation and the loss of Ironman is actually bigger for both of us than I had anticipated. On the plus side, my husband’s business continues to ramp up with the potential of a game-changing opportunity for him. And as one may suspect, game-changing for Darryl has the potential to be game-changing for us.
On the Gail front, I am just exhausted with work right now. I am thankfully over the hump of being exhausted by life and now the exhaustion is just centered around work. A pandemic later, I realize I have permanently changed. With the hustle to get our plants in the ground and save some of Darryl’s summer after losing Ironman, I am at peace with my house and home life. Mother Nature provided some much-needed garden watering yesterday and with rain on tap for later this week, she can take the lead on garden maintenance for now. Of course, Mother Nature hasn’t yet learned to just water the garden and not the grass, but I have thankfully even gotten the grass under control. What was before an unthinkable task of taming the back yard is slowly being brought into line.
That leaves just work and straight up, I’m tired. It’s been a lot lately. Mostly, I think it’s my pandemic hangover. The biggest thing I learned during the pandemic is that I REALLY value my free time. I mean, REALLY, REALLY value it. Work, candidly, just gets in the way. Now, I am 10 days from reducing my workload the equivalent of one additional day per month and that’s good news. But I’m also busy making plans for the future. Next year? I plan to take off the months of July and August to give myself a true break. When I do go back to work, I don’t see me working any more than three days per week. It’s about time to step once again off this train and find a much slower train that will allow me to enjoy life.
And that takes me back to now and taking stock of where we are. My assessment: it’s doable.
Things are never going to be perfect. There isn’t going to be enough time to work and read, garden and complete housework, socialize and get the grass mowed. Our life here on our mini-farm is likely going to wind up being a series of compromises and not letting perfect be the enemy of the good. It would be wonderful if we could do all of the things we wanted to do: meaningful work, large gardens, our own renovations, fund retirement, travel, spend time with family and friends, enjoy our pets and enjoy each other. But like all adults, we will make trade-offs. We will have to prioritize and from those priorities build a life of which we can be proud.
Those renovations? Well, the trade-off is that we will likely do less and less of those ourselves and use our trusted general contractor instead. The garden vs. Ironman? On Ironman years, the garden will likely be smaller and vice-versa on off years. Meaningful work and enjoying life outside of work? For me, it will likely be less of the first and more of the second; Darryl will probably go a little the other direction but not nearly to the extreme he was before.
We will, I believe, find ourselves somewhat in the middle of all our priorities and iteratively changing our priorities slightly with the shifting sands of our lives. Some days, weeks, months and years, there will be an emphasis on a few of these priorities and then at other times, we will find ourselves selecting different ones, I would guess. But at it’s heart, our lives are likely going to be about balancing and prioritizing life over work in that work/life balance equation and celebrating home and achievements with equal joy. Finally, in the very center of our life is us, the furry little beings we call pets, our simple lifestyle and the joy of those we love. That is what grounds and, truly, what brings meaning to our life.
So, we start a new year and a new journey tomorrow. The possibilities at our stage of life are no longer endless. But they are still profound and relatively wide open. We get to define how we live and we get to define what constitutes our life.
The Yuppie Homesteader 