Where are *you* getting to?

Sometimes I think about this blog's name. "Getting There"--where are we getting to, exactly?

When I started this blog back in March, I thought I would write about our journey towards a home in the country, mostly. This was the "there" I had in mind. However, circumstances have made it that it might take longer for us to get there than we originally hoped. Realistically, it may take us years to accomplish this dream. I don't mind living on a small, unsteady income--see this post--but it does mean, unfortunately, that it will take us a pretty long time to save up that downpayment on our future home, especially while we are renting right now.

So-where does that leave us? Where are we going, today? Well, it turns out we can still get somewhere from here. It turns out that while waiting for that "someday" to arrive, there is a whole lot a body can do besides twiddling their thumbs.

It was around the time I started this blog that I became serious about learning new skills. I hoped the blog would give me a push to do things instead of just talk about them--and so it did.  Although we are pretty much still newbies in all variety of skills, I can say that we've accomplished a lot this year, right here in this little city house with a tiny yard. Chris has become an accomplished woodworker, and guitar player (for those country bon fires!) and now he is starting to learn about alternative energy so we can live off-grid when "someday" comes. I've learned much about gardening this year--mostly by my failures. I've done quite a bit of canning for the first time ever, and I've experimented a lot in the kitchen, and learned to make just about everything from scratch. I'm starting to get the hang of sewing, and pretty soon I'm going to try my hand at some simple quilting. And I knit my first useful objects-- misshapen dishcloths.

We've learned all the while to be more frugal than before, and we've also learned so much about running a craft business.

It's amazing how life works, how a person can always be learning and growing, moving forward, just by putting forth a little bit of effort.

Everyone has a different idea of where they want to be on that magical "someday". An old farmhouse on a quiet country lane. An airy apartment in the big city with lots of light for doing artwork. A cottage on the beach. A dream job that allows for world travel. A book finally published...there are so many different places we can all end up. But you know, dreaming about it alone doesn't really get you anywhere. You have the take the first step towards accomplishing your dream. Whatever that dream is, I encourage you today, to take that first step. Learn new skills that you will need, do research, switch jobs, do something. Put it out there. Make an effort, and you never know what might happen. You might actually get there. :)

As for us, we will continue working quietly towards our goal and feeling the satisfaction that brings. We will continue to learn new skills and new ways to make our life beautiful and simple. I feel like in this stage of my life, everything is in a state of change. I am learning things every day, I am doing new things every day. And I love it! I hope it always stays this way and that I never become complacent. Because actually, there are many places I'd like to get, many dreams in my heart, and I only have one life to live. So I'd better get moving, hadn't I? :)

Where would you like to be in the future, and how are you getting there?

 

Comments

[Kathie]

I know it's cliche, but really the journey is as important as the destination. Oh, I have goals of being much more self-sufficient than we are now and paying off that mortgage sooner rather than later - those are all important. However, everything that we're doing to accomplish those goals now are so important and I don't want to lose any of that - the learning and the growing are things I want to hold onto because it makes the attainment of the goal so much more worthwhile.

[Meg]

I think it is interesting reflecting on where you are every once and a while. I never in my wildest dreams I would have "calling the butcher for the turkeys" on my daily agenda. But it is - and I have a pantry full of canned goods, two loaves of homemade bread on the counter, chickens roaming the yard, three young children ranging about, & we're living in a house that my husband and I built together with our own hands - all thoughts, idea, and goals that were foreign at one time - and now are just part of my normal - I am not quite sure where "getting there" will be for us - but I am enjoying the journey-

[~Andrea~]

Oh to be completely self sufficient! It may take the rest of my days but every time I learn something new, I just have the desire to try my hand at even more things.

From canning more next year, to honing my sewing skills this winter, continuing to learn how to crochet, wanting desperately to find a good local source of rennet so I can make my own cheese, to buckling down and starting my first hive this year and preparing for chickens in the spring. I can't say I honestly thought of all these things when I first envisioned moving to the country. Striving to survive without stores, first hand stores anyways, has also come along for the ride as my husband too, has faced unemployment for the last two years, making us learn new skills faster than we anticipated.

So, this process of getting there is almost a living, breathing thing, evolving and changing at every step. And you know, I wouldn't change it for all the world.

[Kathy in KY]

Hi - I don't get to spend as much time online now as I used to - it's just when I can get to Bobbett's early, and I'm glad I did so this morning to spend some time reading your blog post. There is so much that I am learning here in the cabin in Casey Co KY - making a fire everyday to do cooking, to not being prepared when we had a rainstorm, and most of my wood got wet, so I now have to move it all into the woodshed before the next storm. My next project will be to try and clean out some of the old dairy barn of the manure and old hay and use that on a garden spot for next year. And I may be able to get a few dairy goats in the Spring since my landlord offered to fix up the dairy facilities so that I can use them. Always something to learn new, yes, definitely. I want to do a lot of canning next year, and even this Winter, but need to learn how to bake and pressure can with a wood cookstove - I've been avoiding that and need to just bite the bullet and go. Getting there is exciting and scary all at the same time, but almost always enjoyable. Like one of your posters said, the journey is just as exciting as actually getting there. take care, so glad I got to spend this early morning with you. Loved to hear how you're getting there. Much love from the boonies of KY.

[Tonya]

I love this Laura - We lived for many, many years wanting to "Get There" - and even though we now, ten years later, have our very own homestead, there is still so much "getting there" to do...
That is really what life is I think.

[Debbie]

Hi Laura - Just linked here from Plain and Joyful Living. I too am in Ontario (Southwestern) and wanted to say hello.

Ah getting there...it's what it's all about, isn't it? The journey. While I'd love to live in the country and have more room to garden and to have chickens (city by-law forbids them) we do what we can. We make just about everything from scratch, and grow a lot of our own food. We unschool our boy (four years old) and live a simple yet RICH life. I know you know what I mean.

Getting back to the simple basics of life and enjoying family time, for us, is what it's all about.

Glad to have found your blog. Will be following along on your journey.

Namaste,
Debbie

[Lindsay]

That was so beautifully put, Laura, and an uplifting read for me this evening.

ps. I took an almost identical photo a couple of weeks ago :)