Celebrate the normal!

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it by living someone else’s life” 

– Steve Jobs



My life. My life. What to write about it? And specifically how I’m spending my days and even my moments in my days. Because, after all, those moments add up to days which add up to life. Our lives are comprised of the moments we spend – where we are, who we’re with, what we’re saying and the actions we’re taking or not taking.



2020 is such a different place, isn’t it? A year ago who would’ve thought we’d have this many conversations about the sense of taste or smell? Or, a big one right now, who would have even fathomed we’d all have a favorite mask??? I mean, besides Batman? Yet here we are.



My life is vastly different than it was 15 years ago. In 2005 I was a full time Physical Therapist in the best orthopedic clinic around. I worked with friends that I consider family to this day. Barry and I traveled that year to Ireland and Scotland, New York City multiple times and I went to Haiti on a medical mission trip. We were busy – running here and there – loving our life.



Now we have a 13 year old son who sometimes thinks we’re pretty cool. Other times? Not so much. I homeschool Marshall and thanks to Covid we’re all on the farm and having a lot of family time.



Our lives ARE different. Our moments and days are centered around each other, the farm and the animals we raise. Our time is spent with each other. Our days and weeks are here on the farm with little, if any, traveling. We rarely, rarely spend a night off farm, even for a date night.



But our lives are GOOD. We wake up with the sun and greet the day with fresh made coffee and a good, homemade breakfast. We study God’s word. We learn together. We read. We grow. We tend to God’s creation. We eat meals together and spend time together. We’re close. We’re happy. We're safe. We’re here.

We start our days together and end our evenings together.  We tend to see each other now more than we see anyone else in our lives.  And that's good!  We get to spend our time with those we love and really see each other instead of running from one activity to the next.  Remember the incredibly hectic?  The frantic pace?  We don't have that on the farm.  It's slower.  Routine.  Scheduled.  Relaxing.  We have busy seasons and slower seasons.  We have times when we eat sandwiches and chips because we're busy with babies but we also have times when we enjoy a meal of handmade pasta with homemade bread and a glass of wine (not Marshall.  He's all about the IBC these days.). Both times are good and worth celebrating.

I’m choosing to celebrate this normalcy, even what some would consider mundane. I choose to love this life God has blessed me with and the people He’s surrounding me with. This life is good. This life is normal. This life is blessed. 



I hope you find blessings in the everyday, too. I hope you can see the blessings in the ordinary, the normal. I hope you can see God’s blessings as you live your life. Because time is short and you don’t want to live someone else’s life.



Aliceson