on country living

Every Thursday, Ben, Jason and I volunteer at Gorman Heritage Farms in Blue Ash. The farm’s pretty awesome, and not least because of the history: it was founded in the early 17^th century, and John Morgan’s Confederate raid during the Civil War swept through the farm on Morgan’s rampage through Ohio. At the farm, Morgan and his men took shelter in the barn and “acquired” two fresh horses from the Gorman family before continuing on their journey. History seeps through the fresh tilled fields, history stretching far beyond Morgan to the days when Shawnee war parties crossed the lands on their way to attack settlers around Losantiville (modern-day Cincinnati).

I’m a country man at heart (as if my cowboy boots didn’t give that fact away). I’ve enjoyed living in Cincinnati, and if I had to choose any city to live in, Cincinnati’s a good choice. We’re a very green city, sporting lots of parks and thick woods. A ten minute drive in almost any direction can find you breathing country air and escaping the sirens, traffic, and smog of city life. Any aerial photo of Cincinnati will show this to be the case. But to be honest, I look forward to leaving Cincinnati and starting another chapter in my life in Wisconsin. It isn’t just that the Wisconsinite and I will physically be together, not separated by 497 miles (though that’s a big part, if not the biggest part, of it). I look forward to small-town living, to knowing the people in my community, to being part of the fabric of the town. I look forward to leaving Ripon and exploring the nearby parks, trekking through the woodlands, looking at the blanket of stars at the dusk of twilight. I’ll actually live somewhere where cowboy boots won’t make me look weird! Maybe, if I’m persuasive enough, I can talk Mandy into getting a house absent electricity like this one:

There’s sadness, of course; I’ll be “leaving behind” a great network of friendships here in Cincinnati, friendships I value more than most: John & Brandy, Amos, Blake, Andy, Corey & Mandy, the list goes on and on. And who could forget Ams? It’ll be hard being so far from her, and it’ll take an adjustment. Thankfully I’m with a wonderful woman who knows the difficulties that I will face, a woman who is eager to share them with me and support me through them all. I really am blessed to be with a woman as great as the Wisconsinite.

Some say they thank their lucky stars.

Not me. I thank God.