the edge of an era

I am lucky in that I have had the opportunity to know what it means to work hard for something and get it.  Appreciating that “something” every day is another matter entirely.  I am not sure I understand how to do that yet, but there are no other options except to try it, try to figure out the problems holding back the appreciation, hopefully someday just be able to lay down in the grass and not have to DO anything.

Things change, ideas evolve out of or into one person’s control.  To stay static is to admit defeat in some ways, to admit that you or we are no longer capable of dealing with the dynamics of just about anything.

We live with the rules, consequences and laws of thermodynamics, of gravity, of genetic drift, of economic quality.  We come as prepared as we can, but it is often not enough.  Gravity is unbeatable but yeah, we adapt and upgrade and try to keep our faces from hitting the dirt with too much force.

Two years into my return to a rural lifestyle, and I feel that we are gaining some traction on some sort of identity. We are on the edge of an era in which we build the place that makes the most sense to us, to the people who live at Circle Acres full time, for the transients who might like to someday live there full time, for the folks just stopping by for a week or so.  What do we mean to each other? How can our differences be energizing instead of polarizing? What models of community labor make sense for sustainability? Someday we might figure it out. Until then we’ll keep polishing the edges and looking for a nice spot in the grass.