As clearly as if it were yesterday, I remember telling my husband before we were married that I was a suburban girl. Not a city girl, not a country girl. I loved the suburbs. I had never lived more than ten minutes from a mall, and I couldn’t imagine life any other way. Every store, library, restaurant – everything – was within a few mile radius. Yet I could retreat to a quiet home, tucked in a tree-lined street, just off the main road. Clearly it was the best of both worlds. Yep, I was made for the suburbs.
Then nearly fourteen years ago, we moved to his hometown. A small town surrounded by countryside. Our home is still tucked in a tree-lined street in town. But there is no mall for twenty miles, and the few mile radius beyond town offers only farms, with their barns, tractors, horses, cattle and crops.
Surprisingly, I quickly felt at home. Perhaps it was all those two-hour drives through farm country to visit my grandparents while growing up. Perhaps it was the quiet that my soul unknowingly sought. I began to breathe the fresh air. Good air, my man tells me as he points to the lichens growing on our trees; lichens than only grow in clean air.
We head out for an evening drive and he asks me where I want to go. I tell him I want to see the cattle.
He knows exactly which cattle. Not the dairy cows a mile up the road. Not the beef cattle raised by friends a few miles away. No it’s the Scottish Highland cattle I want to see.
I like these cattle, with their rusty-brown color and impressive horns. But I love their home even more – far from the city, even far from the suburbs. I love the dirt roads, the rolling pasture, the wood fences, and the way the sun glows brilliantly behind it all when we travel there on a summer evening. I sigh with contented resignation, knowing I was wrong.
Malls have lost their appeal. Convenience is not nearly so appreciated as wide open spaces. I am a small town, country-girl after all. I can’t imagine life any other way.
In hope,
Shelli
Today I am joining Brooke and sharing One Beautiful Thing in my life.
About Shelli Bourque