Slowing Down

I didn't go anywhere yesterday.

I'm not going anywhere today, either.

I'm not bored.  I'm not feeling house-bound or stir-crazy.  I am happily home.  I'll cook meals, read, knit, hang out with my boys.  When it gets a little warmer we'll put on our coats and go outside, right into our own backyard.  If we feel like it we'll walk around the block with Girl-Dog, which isn't going anywhere ~ walking is simply process.

I am happy to have slowed my life down.  Oh, I quit the fast lane more than a decade ago, but I've still been living a moderately fast-paced life.  It is only recently that I made a mindful decision to limit how often we go somewhere.

I suppose the seeds were planted last year, when we read several Little House on the Prairie books and I saw them with new eyes.  Ma didn't run to town everyday, picking up groceries or replacing a deflated basketball. Mary and Laura didn't have multiple play dates weekly.  Eating at restaurants on a regular basis simply didn't exist on the frontier.  The family spent most of their time at home with each other.

For me, one key to happiness is being content with what I have and where I am.  I recognize that the happiness comes from within and that there is nothing out there that is going to give it to me.  We make our happiness ~ we can't buy it.

And so I stay home, where my happiness lies.