I staggered from the truck dragging my bag into the house after a 12 hour and 50 minute marathon drive from my sister’s place. I was experiencing some sort of decompression effects from the non-stop trip as I lay on my bed and pondered the events of the last four-days. I could feel a grin of satisfaction creep across my face, as I thought about our time together. Attaching Diane’s old bicycle to her new grain mill, overhauling our dad’s old “Shop Smith”, cleaning out and repairing rain gutters on the barn, designing a new drainage ditch, cooking cinnamon rolls in her old oven that you have to prop the door closed with a chair…all replayed in my head.
It was a trip back in time to her one hundred acres in the middle of the beautiful Missouri hill country that had no paved road, no TV, no internet…my cell phone served no purpose other than as a flash light. Her house has no air conditioning; its only source of heat is a wood-burning stove. She is living proof that you don’t need all the modern amenities to be happy. I chuckle thinking about her refrigerator she inherited from our great aunt back in the early 1970’s…it wasn’t new then…you have to make sure you push hard to close it so the latch will catch. She trades hay for eggs, wears hand-me-down clothes, shovels out horse barns in trade for riding lessons and is totally unbothered by the latest fashions. She lives by her self but I am amazed at the number of people who continually call or come by to visit and bring things by like freshly baked cranberry muffins...delicious. 
I recall the solar eclipse of 2017 when a large number of family and friends meet at her house and overwhelmed the septic system. Apparently she never addressed that problem once everyone left…but now I did notice the drains all preformed in slow motion. I love her optimistic attitude “it’s fine”.
I don’t think it is the money that is a problem because she spends ridiculous amounts on horse feed and Vet bills for sick cats and horses that most people would have “put down” ages ago…it’s her priorities…it’s what’s important to her. Grinding her own flour, making do with what the earth provides and taking care of God’s creatures are her main concerns.
I don’t know anyone who is more unselfish, generous and considerate of others than her. Hopefully I can take a page from her book and be more like that.
Thank you, Diane, for reminding me of what is really important. May God bless you and all your friends small and large.
Amen
