Abbynormal Peace--written many years ago

We all have some place that we go in our minds when things get ruff or stressful. A place we think will bring that peace we want. Ever since I was a teenager, I had an ideal escape in mind. I wanted to live up in the mountains like a hermit. Just me and the animals and plants. I wanted there to be a lake or small river near by so I could fish for my food. Not realistic at all! I think that at times we all want to run away from the stress of this life. We just all have our different ideas of what that looks like. Some try to find escape by numbing themselves with to much alcohol, drugs or TV. My most recent thoughts of escape came a couple of years ago while I was having a tough time in a relationship and my job was stressful. I pulled into the parking lot of a local hardware store and I noticed they had some sheds by their garden center. One shed in particular caught my eye. It looked like a small sturdy red barn. It was perfect! I stood there in this shed and redesigned it to become my house. It had a couple of small windows and was tall enough that I could put a small loft in it for my bed.. A small wood stove is all it would need to heat this small “house”. I could put a gas grill outside for doing my cooking. My creative mind took over and I stood there designing then redesigning this little, very little house. Then reality set in. Where would I put my bike? Where would I put company? Would I need two maybe three sheds? Would my place end up looking like a Boy Scout camp with little cabins all around to fit everyone? Have I become too much like the rest of the world? This world is very materialistic with its big houses and bling, bling cars. Everyone trying to keep up with the “Jones”. The more stuff we have the more time it demands from us to take care of it. As I got older and had a family, I realized that a cabin alone in the mountains was not going to happen. My family had grown to seven. When my children were young I raised them watching Little House on the Prairie and The Wilderness Family, shows that seemed to project a more simple way of life or time. Therefore, I planted tons of trees and put in a pond, trying to bring the mountains to me. At night when most people relaxed in front of the TV, I was out by my pond watching the crayfish sword fight each other and the bullfrog catching mice.

Nevertheless, things change, kids grow up. My youngest is heading off to college and then the Army. The number in my house is slowly shrinking. Soon it will be just two, my husband and I. What then? What really matters? God, people, our families? Yes, this is what matters. Not stuff. The book of Ecclesiastes talks about life as Meaningless and that there is a time for everything, a time to be born a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. The conclusion is, Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. A change of location will not bring peace. How or where we choose to live should be just part of our personalities, our uniqueness, they cannot replace or bring about true peace. That only comes through God. If I ever get my cabin in the mountains, it will be because I am unique, or maybe a little Abbynormal.