Over the past few years, maybe the past three years to be exact, I've had a growing desire for solitude. Well, maybe not so much solitude but more...a simple life. A simpler life. If my time in Delhi taught me anything at all, it taught me how little I actually need to be happy and to feel...full.
At heart, I'm a city girl - born and raised. But over the past three years I've had the growing desire to just...leave the fast paced, noisy, busy, city life behind and to just...live more simply. While I'm nowhere near ready for home ownership, I envision a beautiful diamond in the rough, 100+ year old fixer upper of a house on a property with some land out in the country that I get the privilege of slowly fixing up and calling home (something like this though I have no idea how old this house is and it's certainly more diamond than diamond in the rough!). In the back yard of this old house is enough room for me to plant a decent sized vegetable garden...I actually really like gardening. It's one of those things that doesn't sound like fun but once my hands are in the dirt, I can't get enough of it. Maybe there'd even be some chickens so I could have fresh eggs to my hearts desire. And while the quiteness of it all is really very appealing, I envision having these lovely dinner parties, maybe in the yard under twinkle lights, with simple, delicious, seasonal food, good friends, cozy blankets, and lots of laughter...you know - like one of those picturesque photo spreads in Kinfolk Magazine but, you know, with more coloured people in attendance. I'd probably wear dark blue jeans and a white tee every day and I'd be totally okay with that; maybe a thick cozy sweater like the one I brought back from Ireland on days when there's a chill in the air. The TV would get very little use and internet usage would be drastically reduced. I'd be self-employed doing something I absolutely love and Howard would spend the better part of the day running around the yard. Actually, who am I kidding - Howard would do a few laps of the yard, get tired, and nap in the shade. There'd even be a Mr in the picture - tall, dark, and handsome of course!
There wouldn't be this overwhelming feeling of always having to be busy...to be doing something. It would be quiet, and peaceful, and simple. And I would be very, very, happy...and full. At least I imagine I would be. You never really know until it actually happens, right? Until you actually experience a thing first hand. So, who knows.
But in my imagination it all feels really, really, good.
Maybe one day.
+Photograph by Rebekka Seale. Originally blogged here.