Living Simple Ain't Easy

I'm one of those people who has craved simplicity for so long that I've helped subsidize an entire genre of books on the topic. So I KNOW that simply reading about it doesn't do the job, nor does it fulfill the longing. But I've also had a pretty realistic idea of what simple living really means. I didn't really have daydreams about lollygagging my life away, reading with my feet up and eating carob bon-bons.

I was raised with these principles, after all. Chopping kindling, digging rocks out of the ground before planting the vegetable garden, walking home from cross country practice, etc. were not really EASY. And yet I've wanted to go back to that kind of life, and bring my kids along with me. I want them to have memories of home-cooked meals, supplemented with home-grown accoutrements. I want the random TV dinner-type meal to be the rare exception, and maybe even as much of a treat as it was for me when I was a kid... remember those Swansons macaroni meals in the aluminum foil trays? Yum. I don't eat that now because of trans fats... I digress.

So the other day as I strung a clothesline in the back yard, shook out the damp clothes from the washing machine, and clipped them up with light-duty clothespins, I realized that taking this extra fifteen to twenty minutes certainly used up more time than rolling the wads of wet clothes into the dryer, twisting a dial and pushing a button. But when I went back inside the house, it was QUIET. No dull rumbling, no extra heat generated so I'd have to turn down the air conditioning. While I was outside, I watched our resident cardinals flirt and twitter and shake up the branches of the lemon tree. I took a few minutes to survey my little vegetable garden efforts and bent to pull a few weeds. I watched a high-flying airplane trace a con trail against the blue, blue sky.

It seems almost trite to sing the praises of these small moments, but sometimes Trite means True. I felt better after hanging my laundry because I did it deliberately. I fit in a little Mindful Meditation, hey, look at that. Also, the desert sun dried most of the clothes in less than twenty minutes, which is certainly faster than my electric dryer. In terms of altruism, I spared the Earth a couple of pounds of carbon emissions and put aside a tiny bit of coal for someone who needs it more than I do.

I'm not quite to the point where I am taking a year to do a No Impact Experiment, like Colin Beavan and family in New York City, or Barbara Kingsolver and family in Appalachia, as accounted in her book, Animal, Vegetable, and Miracle: A Year of Food Life. (Not unless I get a book deal out of it, that is. Any takers?) However, I am inspired by their efforts, and instructed by the lessons they share by doing it the hard way so I can follow in their footsteps with greater ease.

The children stir, it's time to get them dressed and fed and to day care so I can get to work. Maybe later, if I'm lucky, I'll get to do the laundry.

Cheers,
Heather