Our Rural Roots

Meredith Bernard, Contributor

I await this time of year like a child anxiously awaits Christmas. Crisp mornings and cooler days, the farm turning from green to gold with changing leaves, nighttime campfires with a side of s'mores, finishing up hay and harvest, and family pasture rides checking on cows and their newborn calves.

These are good, simple things. They are what I play over in my head during the heat of summer and cold muck of winter, like a prize I know is coming again if I can just keep going.

Like so many good things in life, though, I must work hard not to miss them. Oh sure, they are going to come, and Lord willing I'll be here to see them, but there have been years I've missed fall for the leaves. (I hope someone sees what I did there.)

My most favorite time of year can also be one of the busiest. If I'm not careful, it will lead to being overwhelmed, which can easily lead to being underwhelmed. And, if I'm not really careful, it can be a vicious cycle that plays over and over from one season to the next. Maybe someone reading this can relate?

How do we keep this from happening? I've decided the answer is simple. What if not being underwhelmed by being overwhelmed was as simple as stopping to focus on the simple? What if enjoying the best parts of our life is a matter of stopping, recognizing and savoring simple moments for what they simply are? What if we did this every day and found new things in the everyday things that we may start considering them the best things? What if? I don't know, but this simple-minded farm wife is giving a gift to herself and simply giving it a try.

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-- Blogger Meredith Bernard tends farm and family, and writes, takes photographs and tries not to get overwhelmed from North Carolina. Follow her on social media @thisfarmwife and visit her website at thisfarmwife.com

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