As my day begins in the hush of predawn darkness, as usual, I make my way outside with the dogs. Looking up at the stars, I listen to the muffled sounds of paws padding through dew-covered grass. And I think about how my life has changed over the years.
For someone looking from the outside in, the changes would appear fairly dramatic. So much so, that if assigned with the task of matching up my “then” with “now”, most people would match incorrectly.
My life before Cait was a life of travel. Near and far. For work and for fun. I was the proverbial rolling stone and the world was my home. I was as comfortable in London and Paris as I was in New York City, my place of work and residence for more than a decade.
And speaking of work, a clientele of the influential and well-connected routinely sought me out. Which, of course, required that I look the part. For which I needed—and had— a closet full of designer clothes and shoes.
Sounds “rutha lah-dee-dah,” doesn’t it?
Those who know me from now would laugh incredulously at such a revelation. Because not a shred of that lifestyle is in evidence anymore. Perhaps with the exception that I still have a thing for good restaurants and my French remains passable in a pinch.
I’ve traded in my allotted fifteen minutes of fame, along with what might have appeared a glamorous life to some, for a life that probably sounds boring to most—a life of animals and outdoors and family. The “countries” I like to travel to now are the back country woods and the unexplored territories of my imagination. These hold all the excitement I’m looking for.
Last night, as I was putting up some vegetables from the garden, Andrew sat in the kitchen to keep me company. Watching me hand-chop my garlic (call me crazy, but I think there’s a big difference in taste between hand-chopped and food-processor chopped), he asked if I ever missed my “former life.” As though perhaps that was the real me, and this garlic chopping interloper was, as Cait used to say, a fiction of my imagination.
I laughed, because I consider my “former life” to be the life before the “former life” Andrew was referring to. Truth be told, my essential self is the girl who grew up in the country with animals. That high falutin, high fashion, high flying other person was the interloper. A fun and interesting one, but an interloper, nonetheless.
That time did feed my need for freedom and adventure, and I got to do it long enough to satiate that craving in that way. But my need for freedom and adventure never goes away. Because those needs are also deeply ingrained in my essential self. I just express them differently now. In a more contemplative lifestyle that’s more in sync with nature.
The dogs move to the gate past where our wood is stacked for the winter, I grab an armful. We all head back in to settle at my desk to start the work day and I think about how much I truly love the simplicity of my life now.
Don’t get me wrong. If someone handed me a ticket to Paris, I’d be on that plane in a heartbeat. Its just that now I’d be double-checking to make sure I also had the return ticket home.
It’s amazing how things change in our lives and how that changes our wants and needs isn’t it!?!
Darrin, I hope your farm and shelter come sooner rather than later for you. I haven’t regretted a minute of my choice to “leave it all behind.”
What a great post, and how wonderful that now we have many more choices in what we want to do. All of your past “jobs” just make you the person that you are now.
Isn’t life funny?
I do hope that if you ever get that ticket to Paris that we could meet in some charming little bistrot….
It feels good to go back to the roots. I’m very happy in Africa… would be happier if things moved faster.
Sometimes I think we have to go through several lifestyles to find the one we are the most comfortable with. We try things on for size, city dweller, suburban mama, ecologist, and finally we take on the one that leaves us soul happy
I always think it’s amazing how different what I think I want and what I actually want can be….
You followed your heart and passion and if anyone can’t understand that or if they think that your life now is boring, then they just haven’t truly lived yet. Family is the most sacred thing one can have in life. Being able to cherish those moments while being in the great outdoors/country is no comparison to the fast paced city lifestyle.
Coming from someone who also had his 15 minutes I envy your decision on leaving it all behind. What you have and share now with your family is the most beautiful gift of life.
Me and my sweetheart Josy are extremely looking forward to making the same move once my health allows us to leave NYC. Our dream is to have a farm and to start a shelter to help as many of our small furry friends we can. We also can’t wait to have a pig and some cows. :)
Reading your beautiful post makes me wish we could leave today, to start our own journey into the country. You have really caused my me to smile in anticipation of our own future.
Thank you so much for that!
God Bless you and your family.
Darrin