Well, another weekend at the homestead has come and gone. We had plans to do a fair amount of work outside, but once again it rained all day Saturday. It's hard to get upset about that for a couple of reasons though 1) the grass seed we've been sowing desperately needs some water and 2) being forced to chill out is difficult to complain about! I spent some time working on my website. There are some little things and a few big things that I've been really wanting to do, but finding a couple of "free" hours while trying to maintain 2 homes, sell one of them, and work full time has been a little challenging. So I took advantage of the "down time" and did just a little work on the Back to Basic Living website. Check it out.

You know, I've been thinking about the story I posted yesterday "Life Without Left Turns". I still think it's a very touching, humorous story that makes me long for a simpler life, but I also got to wondering if perhaps the author's father just simply wasn't one to take any chances in life. It's rather difficult to judge that reading this story, but it gave just enough information to make me wonder.

Lord knows I love living and have plans to do a bunch more of it, but I can't imagine what life would be like if I avoided all risks. I like to believe the risks I take are carefully thought out, but there are some things I do that make others swear I've lost my mind. For example, the fact that Bernie and I plan to sell our home in town, quit our jobs and move out to the country and begin our lives as homesteaders. There are many people who understand and support our effort, but there are probably plenty more that think we're insane to quit good paying jobs and take a chance earning money month to month doing whatever we come up with to make a dollar or two. To us, it's worth taking a chance that we can make the money we need to survive and living a less complicated life, and end up with a healthier and happier life than making a bunch of money working in the city. Many think that financial independence is worth more than personal independence. For some that may be true. For us it's not. It may be a risk, but it's one worth taking. Although it's scary to some degree, being too afraid to do something we desire so much would be crippling to us.

So I guess life without left turns must be nice in many ways. But not if that means yearning to go down that road to the left and never experiencing what's there because you're afraid of the risk. Life is full of risks. It's one of the many things that makes it all so interesting and fun!

Left turns, right turns, and straight of ways all come with risks. Live life to the fullest and with purpose. We're all going to "go" at some point - I just don't want my final thought to be "If I had only had the courage to........"

Live free.

Penny