While visiting, the kids and I went on a little road trip to see the homestead of my great-great grandparents. My dad had made a sign to commemorate the spot where, 117 years ago, a wagon decided to stop and a family decided to call the ground "home".
Exploring an old haunt like this is one of my favorite ways to spend a day, and much to my delight, August also loves exploring anything "old-fashioned", to use his words.
No one lives here now . . . hasn't for many, many years. But the current owners have fenced off the buildings in an attempt to preserve them just a little longer. How my little guy wanted to "explore inside" this barn! And I must admit, I would love to go inside myself.
And if Grampa would only "cut down the weeds and use his chainsaw", we could fix up this house and live here!
Hmmm . . . might be a tad bit small for the large collection of tractors and books we have amassing at our house, but maybe if we added on . . .
Just like August, I could so easily slip away into a little cabin home far off the beaten path. This little homestead is far beyond repair, but if you used your imagination, you could easily bring back to life the orchard of fruit trees, the hedges of berries . . . you could see a milk cow standing beside the barn and a neat little path worn from the barn to the house. I know I'm not cut out for the hard, hard life of a pioneering family in 1893, but I do relish the idea of living, right here and now, in a very self-sustaining environment, gently moving out some of the craziness of the world and enjoying life at a bit simpler, slower and perhaps more meaningful pace.
Yes, August, if Grampa could just cut down the weeds and use his chainsaw, I would most happily follow you down this path and live here with you. In. a. heartbeat.
