Grounded

Audrey and I have new friends, who live just a few minutes from us. My friend Katie and her two daughters (bracketing Audrey in age) are such fun to do things with. The girls usually end up in hysteric giggles about anything/everything/nothing, and I have yet to see them "fight" as toddlers seem to do.

I'm thankful for our growing friendship(s)....let me explain why.

I grew up with my older brother, in what I feel, was a fantastic way. We didn't live in suburbia. We didn't have McDonald's. There were no "soccer moms". We never had a Nintendo. We (almost) never had trendy clothes. I remember getting boxes of generic kleenex that simply came in plain white boxes and in bold, black letters said "Facial Tissues" and I always opted to use TP to blow my nose because it was 10x softer than those "tissues". My parents were frugal, intelligent in their finances, and taught us how to save pennies here and there by not wasting anything. We learned amazing life lessons growing up this way. We know the value of a dollar earned from selling rocks and cleaning rental houses. We know that it is who you are that matters, not the car you drive or the logo on your sunnies, or the balance of any bank account. These, among others, are all lessons I pray I can teach to my daughter as she grows up. Reflecting on my childhood, I now see how my parents worked to teach us these things. But...

I live in suburbia. We have McDonald's (and all the other conveniences of suburbia). Soccer moms are very real (in no way am I saying they're bad though!). We have a Wii. We can buy trendy clothes if we want. I buy name brand Kleenex because I can and they're soft and I don't mind blowing my nose on them, even if they seem pricey at check-out. Life for Audrey is going to be different than mine was. That's not good, or bad,....it's just how it is.

**Wow, this post is getting longer than I originally planned.**

So how do we teach Audrey those lessons, when the only way I know how is not available? Yes, we must get creative. This is where our new friends come in.

They live outside of town. They have chickens and sell the eggs (best eggs ever, by the way!). Their father/husband is a farmer. They're family has an orchard and a store where they sell fresh produce. They do NOT live in suburbia.

It's so refreshing to me to visit them. The girls have mud-boots they wear to the chicken coops, and they have a silly cat who seemingly comes and goes. They don't seem caught up in the "Keeping Up With the Joneses" of middle-America that tries to suck us all in. I guess the girls remind me a bit of myself, and I love it. I hope as Audrey grows, they remain friends. Being in touch with what I can only describe as a "down-home, semi- old school, farming, salt-of-the-earth, honest lifestyle" may do her a world of good. What day to start? Yesterday!

Katie recently got 40 day-old chicks (that's 40 chicks who are one day old). She will raise them, have them butchered, and freeze them to eat in the next year. She and the girls invited us over to see the little yellow fluffs of nothing, as well as her layers (did I say best eggs ever???). Yesterday we visited. We tromped across the yard in mud shoes/boots, soggy with the previous day's 2" of rain. The silly cat followed us, and the girls were already giddy. The chicken coop reminded me of visiting family in ND when I was little. Everything was dirty, but it was that wholesome dirty,....the dirty that shows that you're doing something productive. The 30-some layers were clucking and the chicks were peeping, the cat was vying for our attention. Katie's grandmother-in-law stopped in and was going on about how so and so down the road is selling eggs too. Ahhh,...it was like a breath of fresh air for me. Real people. People who aren't concerned with the trivial, materialistic things. It felt great.

So here's to friendships, and people of all lifestyles. Katie, if you ever find your way to my blog and slug through all the posts and find this one, thank you!!!

The Chicks

The Layers