a day to reflect

Today is a great day. It is a sit-back-and-take-stock kind of day. It is a nose hair freezing day; it is a be glad to be inside listening to the wind howl, and not outside in it day. It is a look outside and see the swirling mists of white and enjoy it because you can turn your head and feel the warmth of a blazing fire nearby kind of day. As the year wanes and former Farmers arrive for visits, I am thankful; thankful for their visits and thankful that we have a lovely, big house to use for hosting friends and hosting parties.

Our friend and former Farmer--"once a Farmer, always a Farmer" (sounds a little Narnian)--Becca, arrived yesterday. After dinner she and I went over to Mummy Dearests' place and hung out and talked; so good to catch up with former Farmers because we just pick up where we leave off, reminds me how truly like family we are to one another.

I was able to take the day off to hang out with Becca, and thus far have spent the day sitting and talking with Becca, RugbyGirl and EvanAlmighty; playing with a new Christmas present (a CD/DVD burner/writer); and keeping the fire going on this bitter cold and windy day. As we spend this time with Becca before she goes back to Chicago and grad school, and also while we look forward to a visit from our friends Tizzy and Horse, I have been reflecting on all the people who have come in and out of my life because of the Farm. All the friendships forged and solidified. It is pretty damn amazing. I occasionally sit back and think of how very different my life would be if I had stayed in Michigan and did the "normal" thing after undergrad: got a job (hopefully in my field), made some money and possibly grew old not far from where I grew up. Hmmm...how different my life is because of one job that I took almost 7 years(!!!) ago. Thinking all these thoughts of course reminded me of a poem. As is almost always the case, one of my favorites:

"The Road Not Taken"

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. ~ Robert Frost