Hard Day's Work

I look down at my body and I have cuts all over, my skin is more dirt than skin, and my socks are black. No, they didn't start that way, they were white. I am sticky all over and can feel so many knots in my hair I doubt it will ever come untangled again. Yet, somehow, I feel more at peace than I have in months.

I spent my day, along with my husband, outside pruning trees, yanking roots of weeds out of the ground, raking remaining leaves, and staring at the sky asking why the heck it needed to be 90 degrees while I did all these things. I know, I know, the first one that complains about the heat... The fact remains, had I been sitting on my butt doing nothing, I wouldn't have. However, getting off topic here, I was working my butt off.

A little background into my life; I grew up a military brat, and then a "city," brat. If you can call Mandan, North Dakota a city, that is. I do remember doing some hard work when I was little, and I remember climbing trees. However, I guess that "city," side got the better of me and I can honestly say I haven't done real hard work like I did today, in quite a while. My husband and I just moved into a house in the country not too long ago, and it takes a lot more work than an apartment. We made a pledge to each other to grow our own food and to do more work outside. We also made a pledge to start taking care of ourselves.

The reason I tell you all this isn't to bore you. It is to inform you that doing a hard days work is one of the most beautiful ways to get back to nature. You drink more water because you get so thirsty it is the only thing that will quench the burn in your throat. Pulling weeds give you this sense of pride you don't experience from run-of-the-mill jobs. Pruning your trees makes you happy because you know they are getting healthier without all the dead things hanging all over. Climbing trees gives you that invincible feeling you had when you were 10 again, as my husband and I experienced today. Nature is just a beautiful thing and a perfect Endorphin raiser when you need one. When I go to bed tonight, I will know that I did the most with a day as I could and I got to enjoy beautiful nature around me.

I would stay longer, but we need to have a fire to burn all those branches we pruned. Catch you soon!