I know what you all thinking - apparently the Farmer's Wife fell off the tractor and is now incapable of typing. I know - it's been a long time since I've blogged. Not having a laptop really infringed on that - I don't find myself with a computer on my lap every night, which is rather nice, actually. But there is happenings on the farm that I suppose I should be updating you all on.
Summer has been going well. We are in the heat of the season right now - which means we have vegetables coming out of our ears. Luke is incredibly busy, but he is doing a great job, and I am proud of him, as always. Sometimes I look around in wonder at all the food and everything he does and just ponder how he does it...he really knows his stuff. Definitely something to be proud of.
My mom and I painted our mudroom on Friday, and it looks awesome! We put a deep gray on the walls, and then painted the doors bright lime green! It sounds out there, but it is beautiful, and I love it! Even though it is a room that is often dirty and cluttered, it feels good to have a fresh coat in there. Maybe with some new paint, we will work to keep it a little cleaner!
But that's not the only reason I named this post "A Fresh Coat." As you all know from my old posts, summer gets busy, and with stress comes arguments and frustrations. Last week I found myself with something I rarely have - time off. Sure, I'm a teacher so I have summers off, but I am not a person who likes to have idle time. If I have a lot of free time, I get lazy, more than anything. So, I teach summer school, attend conferences and summer academies, and with all that, I found that my first true week off of school arrived last week. I was actually looking forward to the time off - and had 4 "To Do" lists to occupy my time. But I needed to make it clear to Luke that just because I was around for two weeks, it didn't mean he could bombard me with more work. I explained that it was my "January." Luke has two weeks in January that still require him to do a little work, but he gets to sleep in, relax, catch up on things he wants to, go ice fishing. I was in desperate need of my "January," so I politely requested that I didn't want extra work beyond my typical farm duties.
Well, within the first day he already gave me 60 extra pounds of tomatoes to can. Then there was a few extra deliveries. And then some other favors. And by the end of Tuesday, I was wondering what happened to my "January." I hadn't crossed a thing off my to do list, I felt lost in the farm, burdened by stress, and yearning for some downtime with my husband. I went to my father-in-law for some very solid advice, and he definitely helped me see a brighter side, and look for some alternatives for Luke and I. But on my drive home, I did some further reflecting. I realized that I was looking at the negatives a little too much, focusing on what was wrong rather than focusing on what was right - and it caused both Luke and I to be burdened by stress.
So I went home, and I read the poem that my brother read for Luke and my wedding. It says to "Focus on what is right between you, rather than that which seems wrong. In this way, you can ride our the storms when clouds hide the sun in your lives, remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there...." It goes on - and it is a beautiful poem. After talking with my father-in-law, and letting the words of the poem come back to me, I decided to let my self roll with optimism instead of realism. I looked at all the great things happening, and I went into each day with a smile. And the next two days, Luke was incredibly positive too - without me even saying anything to him. He was goofy, less stressed, happier. So I kept it up, tried to avoid discussing the stress and the amount of work. Rather than talk about it, I just worked at it. And what I've found in the past week is that if I keep my positive attitude, it really rubs off on Luke. We are eating lunches together and laughing, goofing around and watching movies, throwing rotten tomatoes at the other when they aren't looking, and it feels simply wonderful. It feels more care-free and fun than we have had all summer, and I'm loving it. It's interesting how much things change when you just try to give them a "fresh coat."
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