February 29th, 2024
Even with an additional day added to February, here I sit writing this newsletter with only hours left of this month.
In my defense, even with the additional day February is still a short one.
As I reflect back on this month, I can honestly say for the first time in quite a while… it's been a quiet one.
In fact, I looked over my coffee cup one morning last week at Mark and exclaimed… “wow, life seems a bit slower when one isn't dealing with a cancer diagnosis”
He silently nodded in agreement.
Both mentally and physically, we've noticed the void of chaos.
…and we couldn't be happier for it.
However, I did somewhat adjust my worklife this year to make space.
Not necessarily space for more work, but more space for life to happen.
Whether that be in sickness, or in health.
For the first time in almost a decade, I've reduced my lambing events to only 3 this year instead of my typical 4. In doing so, I'm not only giving myself a bit of a reprieve, but also my ewes.
Productively, I may be chastised for not being as efficient as I could be… but if I've learned anything over the last couple years, is that rest can also be very productive.
Carving out some time to do things that don't have an obvious ROI is something many of us deny ourselves of… especially as farmers.
It's bred deep in our DNA to put work above all else, a trait something Mark and I have both been guilty of possessing.
So this year will be a bit of a transition for me.
Me who can't sit still.
Me who requires stroking many jobs off a to-do list daily.
Me who's brain wakes up in the middle of the night building the new to-do list.
Me who doesn't like change, when something is finally working.
To make a long story longer, this year may prove to be an epiphany of good, or an admission of failure.
So far, the extra time has come in handy for poor Jack. He's had his first bout of home buyer's remorse upon the discovery that he's got weepy basement.
One that was hidden by an even worse renovation attempt.
After stripping the basement down to its brick walls and cement floor, we could now see that although pretty in pictures… this former basement reno was really only lipstick on a pig. (no offense to the lipstick, or the pig😉)
Since then, our February has been Mark and I posing as the next home improvement show on HGTV every weekend.
I'll include the photoshop skills of our buddy Jer, who also thought this should be our next gig.
Thankfully, we are in the final stages of the bedroom that was the biggest priority and hoping to be done by this weekend!
Which gives the perfect segway into WHY we want to be done by this weekend…
I'm currently contending with butterflies in my belly doing olympic-style backflips, as I prepare for my longest time away from home… maybe ever.
Mark, my sister, my brother in law and myself are heading over to the UK and I'm catastrophizing all the things that may go wrong when I'm gone.
Hence, needing the weekend free and clear so as to make room for predicting and preventing all the things that DO and MIGHT go wrong the minute my feet leave the property.
BUT…
Those butterflies are equally due to the excitement of visiting a place I've wanted to visit for years!!
And there is just something about the planning and anticipating a trip that ignites something is all of us.
Anyway, landing this long winded plane…
I'm grateful for last year's challenges to force my hand in making some changes.
Changes that may bring more work, and changes that may bring things OTHER than work.
But perhaps the biggest change of all, is giving ourselves the time and room to choose.
