It turns out there aren't a whole lot of stay-at-home analytical thinkers - in this small town - who both make things and don't suffer from paranoid delusions about vaccines/gluten/Democrats.
Of all the people I've met here, the one I like the most (personally) is a card-carrying member of the Tea Party. I'm planning to help her plant her first big garden in the spring. Our children all love each other beyond words. Her child wears camo all the time and will probably hunt once he learns to hold a gun.* The spouse and I are pacifist liberals who, literally, make crunchy granola.
Anyhow, the summary version is I feel a bit adrift and, even though it's better than all that deeply unpleasant uncertainty, I haven't figured out exactly what shape my life is going to take in the next few years, or how it will weave in with the amazing assortment of personalities here.
* I'm all for hunting for one's food - after all, I eat meat, and deer
Oh, the stay-at-home paranoids! They are very frustrating. I went to the Garden Expo and listened to a talk on beekeeping from a man in overalls, homemade felt garden hat, and a full beard. I had to correct him when he called the imidacloprid systemic pesticide used on corn a GMO. The rest of his talk on bees was interesting, but it sounds like a lot of work, and a few hundred dollars in equipment.
ReplyDeleteI sympathize with your uncertainty regarding your life's direction. C2 is only 1.5 yrs away from kindergarten, and I have yet to decide if I want to go back to full-time science work. Probably not. Perhaps I can manage to get myself hired at a U-pick strawberry farm/experimental fruit research station about 8 miles from my house. It is run by a former soil scientist/engineer. Gotta love Cold City :) (Hmm, except for the currently 5-ft high piles of snow surrounding my house.)
I would love a good granola recipe. Also, I totally get where you're coming from as far as kids/family friendships with unlikely folks go. A friend of mine refers to that as passive activism. Maybe they're learning something from you!
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid ours is less a recipe than a 'take some oats and...'. My mother used to make the one out of Laurel's Kitchen.
ReplyDeleteI hope both sides are learning valuable lessons. (I taught the Tea Party friend how to can.)
I've been in my current job/house arrangement for a little over 3 years and I finally feel like I have found my niche. For me, even though I grew up about 45min from where I'm currently living, it took time and MeetUp.com.
ReplyDeleteI hope you find your niche.