I recently read an article in Country Sampler Farmhouse Style Magazine about how to have a “Farm Girl Summer.” You may have heard of a “hot girl summer” if you hang out with any girl under the age of 21. My bean frequently talks about having a “glow up” and a “hot girl summer.” I listen and internally roll my eyes. Apparently, having a hot girl summer is a state of mind, hair, make-up, and music. Have you discovered there is a playlist for everything these days? Go ahead, Google, insert any mood, attitude, or activity, and add “playlist” after it. You will inevitably come up with a variety of playlists to choose from. The Bean listens to “hot girl summer” playlists. Who knew?
Anyhow, I giggled as I read the article because there are people out there who think farm life is glamorous and fun. Some of the suggestions in the article guiding people to have a “farm girl summer” were to make and home can jelly, visit a goat farm, go to a farmer’s market, sleep outside, learn to make soap, and plant a garden. These are all things I do every summer. And you know what, dear reader? It is fun. It’s not glamorous, but it’s fun and rewarding. It’s also hard, dirty, sweaty, stinky, and overwhelming, but it is a good way of life.
After reading this article, I thought about how my life seems idyllic to some people. Don’t get me wrong, it is a beautiful life, and I say thank you for this life every day. However, for me, this is just my life. For me, an idyllic life would be to live in an old English manor, be a master gardener, ride horses, host fancy dinner parties, stroll through a flower garden cutting flowers for flower arrangments, and go to a pub every night for supper. Somewhere, some other woman is living my dream life.
The point is, dear reader, we all lead an idyllic life to someone somewhere. Perhaps there is a hardworking mom who would love nothing more than to be a stay-at-home mom or a stay-at-home mom that longs for a high-powered career. Maybe someone drives by your small story-and-a-half cottage and thinks it is their perfect home, and the person who lives there is the luckiest person on earth. And maybe the person in the small cottage wishes for nothing more than a bit more space. Perhaps the woman who cooks every night admires that woman who doesn’t own a stove and eats in a restaurant or gets takeout every night, and maybe the woman who eats out every night longs for nothing more than a home-cooked meal.
It’s human nature to want what you don’t have. On this Mother’s Day weekend, remember that somewhere someone is admiring your life. The life you take for granted is someone else’s dream. You may not always think your life is admirable, but trust me; someone would give anything to have your life and its problems. You are blessed. You are admirable. You are fortunate, and you are worthy.
For me, I want an “English manor summer.” Perhaps I can find a person who lives in an English manor and wants to experience a farm girl summer. We could trade lives just like in the movies. Except for the person who takes over my life will be stuck with The Bibbed Wonder poking them in the butt with his thumb and yelling, “BUM THUMB!” multiple times a day or the new game of poking me in the belly button and singing funny songs about it. I’m unsure I could sleep at night knowing I did this to someone. Sigh. You see, dear reader, we all have our burdens to bear.
On this lovely May day, stay safe, be smart, know you live a life to be admired, and keep washing your hands.