Swheat Farm Life: Living Mindfully

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Living Mindfully

Living mindfully are the two words that I awoke to …. precisely at 2:09am this morning. Ugh..... And while at the time I didn’t know what they meant, I just wrote them down and tried to go back to sleep.

The last couple of nights I’ve been restless in sleep and my taste in music seems to somehow intuitively sense a story that was in the making. And so tonight I put on Rascal Flatts as this band has such powerful lyrics that permeates my soul, poured myself a glass of wine and opened the laptop.

While I never exactly know what words are going to start pouring out, I had an inkling that the beginnings of a story had started last week when I attended a women’s wine night at Adrian’s house, which just so happened to be my folk’s old house. While the house itself wasn’t where I grew up, it was where I learned about true family love and fun. The house was where I transitioned from being a single young woman, to being married, then becoming a mom, and then becoming a grandmother myself. That house has seen so much, it’s almost like it’s a diary. It was a place that was safe, even magical for me for so many years. And when the wine night invite came, I was nervous to attend, as I didn’t know where I would be on the emotional scale. But the event was held in the new shop so it was a neutral spot, but I asked permission to take a peek inside the house. And surprisingly, the interior was almost the same as when mom left to begin her new life after leaving “The Ranch House”. The place was sold furnished and the new owners had kept almost everything the same and I almost felt like I’d see my step-dad walking into the kitchen to grab his favorite snack, raw onions and a hunk of cheese. The memories of holidays and countless hours of pure family fun crept in and it made me smile. One of my favorite memories was when I was eight months pregnant with Jennifer, my oldest and it was December. My mom, step-dad and I had spent the better part of a Saturday making Christmas decorations from fabric in the shapes of trees and bells that we sewed and then stuffed. Today I still have all those ornaments and they are as special now as they were back then.

And the term “living mindfully” made sense as today I read one of the most heart wrenching but beautiful obits from a young woman whose life was cut short by cancer. Her words were powerful about living life to the fullest, making memories and not sweating the small stuff. She cautioned to not collect stuff, but rather collect cherished memories by truly living. Her words were hauntingly beautiful. And the memory of witnessing the last rights being given to my step-dad floated up. I remember sitting in the hospital room and thought to myself that when you get to that stage of life, that all you have are the memories. Material stuff isn’t important, it’s the memories that are the precious keepsakes. And as I begin this new year, in a new farmhouse in a new town, I’ve started making the storyboard of a beautiful life. In the short 10 months that I’ve lived here, I’ve hosted 3 work events, a neighborhood get to know you party, a Christmas gathering of family friends as well as Christmas itself. My sweetheart and I have spent some cozy evenings together with many more in the works. And I can see where more gatherings are on the horizon when I gather family and friends to celebrate life here in my little piece of heaven on earth. And for me, the everyday goal will be to enjoy the beautiful moments of each day and live that day as if it were my last.

And as I close, it is a privilege to me that you stopped by. I hope that somewhere in these words and the emotions that get poured out in the blog, that you will find a way for you to live mindfully in a way that makes your heart and soul sing.

As always, nothing warms this girl’s heart more than comments if this particular blog resonated to you. Feel free to leave a comment on FB page for S-Wheatfarmlife or post a comment on the blog.

All my best, Gayle

Here are some photos found and I had to take a picture of the picture.... so please forgive the poor images