It's a start!

There were three things that started my new journey into simplicity. Briefly, I will describe these three things and then fast forward to life my life now. It's important to remember that it's baby steps that get you there, wherever "there" might be.

A clothesline - my life as a child seemed so much more simple. My mom made most of my clothes, she canned in the summer, she even made our Halloween costumes. My parents had everything they needed, but for the most part, they were simple people. My mom still is. I thought back to when my mom looked content. Instantly, I had a vision of her hanging clothes up on her clothesline. She always looked relaxed and she was never in a hurry. I ended up stopping by Sears one day after work, they had a clothesline on their web site that I really liked. A young man, probably about 20 came up to help me. I asked what section the clotheslines were in. He had no idea what I was talking about, I think I aged 20 years in just that moment. I explained to him what I was talking about. "You know, a clothesline, people typically have them in their backyard, you hang clothes on them to dry". He looked at me strangely. I don't know if it was a look like he still had no idea what I was talking about, or if he wondered why in the world someone would want to do that. I said "Your mom probably had one in her backyard" Facial expression was the same. So I tried " your grandma probably had one". Bingo! A realization dawned on his face. Ok, 20 more years was added to my life! As it turned out, they didn't carry them in the store, I still had to order it online. A week later my clothesline had come in the mail, my husband put it up and all i had to do now was use it! How exciting,,,, now, if I could just find the time to actually use it!

Wait! Slow down!

Life was going fast, to fast! Our journey into simplicity wasn't planned, it didn't have a name, I suppose it did, we just didn't know the name, we didn't know the philosophy existed.  The one thing my husband and I did know was the days, weeks, months and years were flying by us. We were working to get somewhere and we were working hard to get there. One night we sat and asked each other, what were we working hard for? Our answer was: a happy family and a rewarding life.

Were we there yet? No.
Did we have a plan to get there? Of course we did we were working to get there.
How long was this going to take? We had no idea.

All of a sudden, it didn't seem like we had a great plan. Our children were growing up and I felt like I was missing the most important and enjoyable time of their childhood. Thankfully, I had a job where I could schedule my work to fit the kids schedule. If they had an event at school I could be there. If I wanted to volunteer to help out with fundraising for the school I could schedule that. The issue was, I was rushing from one activity to another. I never stopped and just enjoyed what I was doing at the moment, I never stopped long enough to just "smell the flowers". Although I was able to physically be at the activities, my mind was always thinking of the next thing I had to do, my children deserved all of my time, not just part of it. My husband deserved a wife that could fully invest in him. My family deserved more and so did I.

So, unknowingly, the journey to Simplicity was born and it is a journey I will never regret making. So, I welcome you to read my story and welcome to Simple Living.