I have a friend from high school, www.readingrisa.wordpress.com she truly Inspires me we haven't seen each other in probably 20 years!! We reconnected one day on face book, we have emailed, shared a few phone calls, and caught each other online to chat...and enjoyed each others blogs! We were the first two to get married in our class...straight out of highschool...her in the summer and I in the fall!! we both got pregnant and had our first babies around our first Anniversarys or shortly thereafter, and if I recall our second children aren't far a part either. So, we currently both have two grown children, both of mine our married and her first gets married next month. We find our selves at a fairly young age as empty nester's!..She isn't a grandparent yet and I have 4, but she will enter that phase as well someday....we also found that we share a kindred heart in many things, the love of writing and simplicity for example. She has mastered both of those better than I.
Today i was reading her blog, I was inspired once again as I often am by her......to slow down...take it all in....be spontaneous....simplify and write!!! Her and her husband have made some huge changes and downsized a ton!! They made a huge move away from what they had known for many years to pursue their vision of simplicity....In my eyes they are so courageous and brave. Maybe that is because before I could even stop my head from spinning when my two girls got married six months apart, and then announced they were expecting their first babies just months after the second wedding...or maybe it is that i am not very courageous and brave, or maybe it is not where God wants us right now....but either way, their journey and her writings are truly inspiring to me. She spurs me on to strive to be more simplistic...to savor and drink in relationships, to form bonds with people that are important to me, and to let "things", rigid schedules, and the set "scripts" in our heads (as she puts it) take a little more of a back seat!....not that we shouldn't be responsible or diligent, good workers and providers and take care of and have respect for the things we have, or that we shouldn't have any things....but that we keep it in perspective to what we were put here to do, and have a deeper sense of what we are called to. To be comfortable in our rolls, in our skin, in our season.....be content and strive for that inner joy! to not let the "scripts", the "things" the set backs, and the status quo define us.
In this season for us, we have suffered lack of income from our employment, loss of work...and had a more significant struggle to keep things a float than what I can remember in quite awhile, that wasn't linked to significant health issues. It has challenged us to be resourceful and diligent....It has caused me to draw even closer to God. To not lose sight of what and who is important...what our true goals are....to not let it steal our joy and challenge our contentment.
In the midst of all of this I personally have faced what feels like a lack of commonality, community, or "friends of a certain age" I know that sounds like the new sitcom.(men of a certain age)...but the title bears some truth! This is not to say I don't have friends....I do! my sisters/sister in laws are some of my best friends, my mother too is a good friend, I have friends that are my age possibly but still have children at home, or friends that are 10 years or more younger than me....or out of state...but none that are local, tangible, my age, in my season, and share my interest... standing in life right where I am (figuratively speaking) Someone who is clearly experiencing some of the same struggles I am as a women in her forties, married almost 30 years, with grandchildren, trying to redefine her life. I am not sure why that is... right now.... in this stage of my life when "I" feel that I need that in my life, It isn't happening.....but as I press forward to simplify in a different way than my friend...as far as...I won't be moving anytime soon! We have pared down quite a bit as we have transitioned thru the last 4 years...trying to make our space more usable, inviting and simple to stay on top of...But rather simplifying in a different way.....I find myself in a peculiar place, one of more reliance on God, my husband and myself .....and as often happens as I write...I frequently answer my own questions! Maybe this IS part of my purpose, the Plan....that at this moment what I NEED isn't necessarily someone that is available at a moments notice to run to the grocery or grab a coffee,or sit on the front porch chatting the afternoon away.... but time to grow closer to God, to reflect on life and ponder the future, mentor and be friends with younger women, rediscover and get lost in my husband and my marriage, redefine myself and our life..spend quality life giving time with loved ones..... and this? this ?....... I might need solace for more than i think....because as my friend recently wrote: "with smaller living we can experience more. More exploring what interests us, more time with each other, more freedom to be spontaneous."
I think maybe smaller is relative to what you are downsizing....for me in the midst of working 3.5 jobs, one of those being running my own business, and scott working often 2 we need to downsize life...evaluate who's plan am I trying to excel at?......keep our commitments and schedule reduced so that we have time to remember to;
00reflect, pray, spend time with our loved ones, be the spouses we are called to be, the parents and grandparents we are striving to be, take breaks, sit on the porch swing, take a nap, go for a walk, enjoy our garden, read, talk, learn to be comfortable with ourselves...breathe..love ...write
"Inspired Simplicity!"
