Endeavors

Last week was Thoreau's birthday and I read the following quote from him, and it has really stuck with me.

"I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

Over the weekend, Jim and I went to a friend's house for a BBQ and live jam. He lives about 45 minutes outside the city, on a few acres. Everyone was encouraged to camp, which we did, and that gave me the opportunity to explore his land a little bit. It's a nice piece of property and they have some beautiful gardens. I crossed through their tree line and happened upon a beautiful meadow. I thought to myself, this is the kind of place that I want to live. It looks like the perfect place for Jim and I to raise a couple of donkeys and goats, and maybe a few chickens. And besides - it's gorgeous!

As I lay in bed last night, trying to fall asleep, I was thinking about buying a farm and how Jim and I would make it work. Will we have to wait until we retire? Will I be too old then to work a small hobby farm? I mean, I'm not going to retire for another 20 years! So many questions. But then I caught myself and remembered Thoreau's quote.  I just have to keep moving forward and believe (believing is key) in the reality of my donkey farm. 

I know that spending my time and energy worrying, about what may or may not happen, is such a horrible waste of both. I still struggle with 'not' worrying, mostly because I come from a LONG line of worriers. I have to believe that this will happen for us and of course I have to lay some groundwork. We are doing our best to save some money, and are committed to living below our means. Yes, below and not within our means - we say below, because we make a conscious choice to not spend as much as we could. It helps that we are Winnipeggers - frugal to a fault! But both of us are on board with how we want the rest of our lives to pan out. (And Jim is finally warming up to my dream of donkeys - I introduce him to all that we meet - which makes me very happy.)

One thing I do know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that things are going to unfold the way they were meant to unfold. The universe has a way of working stuff out, otherwise how do you explain that decided to marry the old bear the day I met him?