Wow. What a weekend.
Busy, but good. Very good. Saw a lot done around Freeman House and got in some quality "socializing" time. It's rare that I get both at once!
Anyway, I have an idea. It's not new, or groundbreaking. Maybe I should say I'd like to reintroduce an idea. I saw on CBS Sunday Morning that Italians have an average of 43 days off a year. Americans? We have 16. While we bust our butts to get a little over 2 weeks off a year, the good Italians enjoy the viva dolce with a month and a half off.
They also close down their businesses and offices for 3 HOURS in the afternoon. You know, to eat, sip a glass of wine, and socialize.
(Speaking of lunch, I am continually cracked up by the "Let's Do Lunch" ad in D Magazine every month. This dating service sets professional guys and gals up on blind lunch dates with the hope of achieving an "e harmony" type of hook-up. I can't imagine anything more stressful than trying to fit traffic, meeting a potentially new partner, and cramming some food down your throat and getting back to work all in an hour. Does that service actually work??)
So... the CBS report got me thinking about the sweet life, and what mine would look like. I decided it would definitely not be my college life with my college boyfriend. I worked for an ABC affiliate and was on the air by 6 am every weekday morning. In college. I remember having a 2 day meltdown when I came home one day to find my boyfriend soaking his firefighter feet in my crockpot. While unknowingly drenching my term paper. The term paper dealing with the subject over whether hell is, in fact, exothermic or endothermic.
Needless to say, the ex nearly found out first hand.
Neither would I choose those stressful, job seeking years after college, which landed me at a CBS affiliate in Dallas. Then came the professionally-likeminded boyfriend who was more interested in Benny Hill and fantasy football then making our relationship work. He really sucked, and so did that life.
But now... now I'm on the verge of something really sweet. It's funny. On that same program this morning, they interviewed a man who worked for Microsoft before walking out one day and starting a vineyard somewhere. He said that his old co-workers would say: gosh, I wish I could have that life. I wish I could wake up in a different life and not have to deal with all this.
The man kinda laughed and said, well, it's your choice. We wake up everyday and make a choice about the life we lead. Everyday you have to make a decision to stay where you are or shake things up. Changing your life is as simple as changing your daily decisions.
Meaning... we have a choice whether we'll live the viva dolce. Everyday we have the choice.
Anyway, I thought that was encouraging.
Howdy Brin! - I generally (though not always)recognize a God-thing when I see it, and finding your blog, today, when it's almost over no less, is a God-thing, pure and simple. I've seen the title of your blog on many a blogroll and have proabably even stopped by before - but today, thanks to someone's suggestion on their blog about reading your inspiring story, I came by and really saw your blog, really read it for the first time...and I'm indeed inspired...so much so that I wanted to know the whole story of your adventure and found myself browsing through your earliest posts where I found this one...truly for me today. You see, I recently left my corporate life and am rehabbing my new hubby's old bachelor pad mobile home and pruning my life, our lives, of the big city clamor and the endless stuff we're surrounded by. It has been nothing short of an adventure, and reading this post, this day, was just what I needed...to spur me on when there is still so much left to do...still so much uncertainty about finances, still unanswered questions about what to pursue when. Your quote, "We wake up everyday and make a choice about the life we lead" was a great confirmation that we are on the right track at least. Thank you for sharing... I can't wait to see your bakery as it unfolds (how exciting!) and I will enjoy reading all the background that leads up to it like a good book. Although you are closing your blog, please know that I am so very grateful that you had it available when you did. I needed it today...
ReplyDeleteHugs and Blessings,
Becky S.