A quote: “As a farm girl, even when I was quite young, I had my ‘farm chores’ – but I had time also to be alone, to explore the fields, woods and creek side. And to read.” ~~ Joyce Carol Oates

I’ll start with a story …

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It was life stripped to essentials. You did, or it didn’t get done. And out of the simplicity …

… let’s start with the basics. We need to eat. So the ritual around a basic survival function becomes something more than just the simple act of preparing food … cleaning, chopping, seasoning, all manner of cooking … can be calming alone or reassuring when shared.

In the hurry to do Important Things or experience The New we lost that somewhere.

I know our daughter had a tough time when we chose to leave The City. I knew she wouldn’t understand what we saw and how much we feared for her.

There was a lot of silent resentment as I pushed her into chores. Things I used to have the luxury to ignore in The City and not realizing the harm it was creating.

Now we may start talking about what seasoning to use on the eggs she has gathered from the coop but it evolves into sharing what we liked doing or planning what we might do differently next spring.

Washing dishes becomes a ritual of sharing dreams or goals over sudsy water. It might not be sexy or modern, but the laughter and love over making things right will continue with her own children.

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Now, it’s your turn.
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.featured image, cropped, Adobe Stock standard license