Blessings in the Midst
“Can we live here forever, Grandmama?” little Sara asked from her floatie as she “rewaxed” in the pool.
The pool. Late September. Deeply blue sky, white puffs of clouds, horses cropping grass in nearby green
pasture.
“It would be nice,” I agreed, breathing in the peace, luxuriating in the consciousness of blessing. A world
with beauty still.
Push away, push away the darkness, the discouragement, despair, grief, lurking fear and pain.
Fall has brought new apprenticeship families to the farm, coming out each week to learn farm life and
help with chores. Children’s voices call across the yard, cajoling, asking, telling.
I had not checked our little above ground pool for weeks and assumed it had crashed. I pictured it full of
green goo. Yet last week when I was in the front pasture to fix fence, I was amazed to find the pool clear
and clean, awash with the pounds and pounds of salt which apparently was working despite a failed
pump. Last week the water was on the edge of cold.
This week the pool was just right, cool with spots of warmth from two days of sun following storms and
rain.
This morning Sara and I milked for the first time in weeks, something else I had let go in the crash of
circumstances. “I love to milk” our little granddaughter commented, gulping down her fresh hot
chocolate. For lunch we ate leftover homemade chicken soup made with homemade chicken. Gradually
we are converting to more of a “homestead” lifestyle and trying to help others do the same.