This is the last post to "catch up" on the beginning of my journey, after this, it's on to daily life of my kind of simplicity. There are different types of simplicity,, I only follow a few.
My husband and I never really went on a vacation. I guess we always thought we were to busy. I always had an excuse. I don't think it ever bothered my husband, he never asked to go anywhere.
After 13 years of marriage we finally went on our honeymoon. It was a life changing trip. We didn't go to Disneyland, we didn't go to any tourist attraction, we didn't even have a destination in mind. Our very best finds in life we just stumble on and this was no different. We decided when we left home once we got through Ohio, we would take back roads to wherever we were headed. We entered into Kentucky, left I-75 and got on a county road and took it south. As we traveled through Kentucky it seemed like we entered a different world. People were friendly, they moved slower and talked slower than people in Detroit, it didn't seem as busy and we liked it. We traveled almost all the way through Kentucky and spotted an elderly couple sitting on a bench outside of a party store. They seemed so content sitting there, they didn't seem to have a care in the world. They looked happy. We stopped to ask them how far it was to the next town. We were hungry for dinner and it was getting late. When my husband asked them "how far to the next town?". It seemed like it took forever to answer , 3 minutes to be exact. Yes, i looked at my watch - remember, mentally I was already planning the next step. His answer was about "30 minutes". He must have misunderstood, we wanted to know how many miles,, my husband asked him again. He took off his hat, scratched his head and looked at his wife. "bout,,,, 30 miles" he said. I was thinking, how can someone take so long to answer a simple question?? As it turned out, I had plenty of time to ponder that question, considering his time was off to the tune of two hours!
We ended up settling in a town called Whitley City, Kentucky. As we were passing a hotel my husband turned into the parking lot and that was our "home" for the next five days. We only did a few tourist things, we took a train trip through an old coal mine in Sterns, Kentucky and we went to the local diner a few times. I enjoy reading history and learning about how other cultures live. I think this was the best part of the trip, since we didn't have alot of sight seeing to do, we got to meet the locales. We talked with them and learned how they lived. Where we live, people talk about things they have, material things they would like to have and any gossip they can get there hands on. The people in Whitley City we met talked about their families, family activities and God. It was quite different than what we were used to. I fell in love with that city and the people. It was during those five days I found out what I was looking for in life. I was looking for a life that was slower, more simple and not so chaotic. I wanted to live there.
Moving down there was just not realistic. However, living the basic principles were realistic. We came home and life changed immediately. I stopped planning my daily activities. I took an inventory of what my life consisted of and started deleting certain things. I made a vow that spending time with my family would be the highest priority. I would never again be "to busy" for my children. Once I simplified my friends, it left plenty of time for certain things. I did things I hadn't done in years that I enjoyed. I started baking again, I learned to make bread and cinnamon rolls. I sat down and had long talks with my husband.
Since our trip, there have been times in my life where it could have gotten busy, it was up to me to not let that happen. Don't get me wrong, sometimes there aren't enough hours in a day, I just have to remember, there is always tomorrow.
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