When some friends came to visit recently I was reminded of how foreign living in the country feels to those who live in cities. My friends’ first words after crawling out of their vehicle was, “Are you hiding from the law or something?”
Now, I don’t live that far out in the boonies, but to my friends who live in the city, any stretch of dirt road means those who live along it are surviving in the wild isolation of “the
sticks”.
So how do you know if you live in the country?
Well, if people come to visit and they say things like “Wow! I can’t believe I found you” or “It’s so quiet out here,” then you probably live in the country.
If you see a bandanna and think “neckwear”, you live in the country. And if the jingle in your pocket is from bolts, nuts and washers rather than quarters, dimes and nickels, then you are in the country.
If you wave at familiar vehicles even though you have no idea who is driving them, and a trip to the grocery store includes a list and at least a quarter tank of gas, you are living in the country. If you don’t have to look up to see the sky, and your commute to work includes regular sightings of hawks, geese and an occasional coyote, you are blessed to live in the country.
You live in the country if you plant your garden with six rows of everything – two for yourself, two for your neighbors and two for the wild things. You’re in the country if you mark time by sunrises, sunsets, full moons and seasons rather than putting too much stock in clocks and calendars. And if you can tell when the seasons are getting ready to change by what kinds of equipment and implements are lined up outside of farm supply and hardware stores, you probably live in the country.
If you dread having to get new boots because the mud, grit, sweat and goo incrusted ones that are now so odorous that even your dog wants nothing to do with them, fit your feet perfectly, you’re definitely a country person.
If you open your door in the morning and find that your outdoor pets have delivered you reminders of how the food chain works in the form of large, unidentifiable critters, then you live in the country.
And bless us all who do live here, because we feed, serve, provide and remind everyone else of the peaceful good life that exists out here in the boonies!
