The Road Less Traveled

When I was a child I grew up on the farm I now live at, my parents purchased it 2 years before I was born. The picture on the left is what I have seen every day of my life. I have no idea how many times I have crossed the cattle guard and had this view staring at me on my way home. I ran and played in every field and creek and played with every farm animal as a child. Dad was a carpenter so dinner was always on the table at 5:00pm. My brothers and sisters were grown and married by the time I was 4, (I was a surprise) so I had the place to myself and it was just the three of us; Mom, Dad and I. There was 100 acres to explore with the animals and I loved it.
When I was a teenager I could not wait to graduate and move on with my life (that did not include having a farm and animals) I just could not understand why Mom and Dad were so happy with this type of simple life. They raised their own meat and Dad grew 2 huge gardens every year and had a cellar to put all the food in, (what mom did not can) they had a jersey milk cow, and more often than not when we sat down to a  meal everything on the table came from our farm. This was not for me. Why go through all the trouble when the market is only 3 miles away!
In my early 20's I got married. My hubby and I both worked and we had 3 beautiful children. When he quit Chrysler and started his own business I quit my job to run the office. We did this for 12 years it was great. I loved being with hubby 24/7 and coming home every night to the family. I was also blessed with the fact that my parents watched my kids, so they never had to go to a babysitter. We sold the business in 2006, we now just rent the building to a tenant. My oldest daughter lives 45 minutes from me. She has two children of her own and is working on getting her bachelors degree in psychology so she can go to medical school. She and her boyfriend took a page from our book and run their own business too (we had an auto shop, they have a game store. facebook page). My son graduates this month and will be starting college in the fall. My baby girl will follow suit next year.They grew up on me!
I did not realize it at the time, but my life started taking another turn about a year after leaving the shop. It began with a few animals and progressed from there. Since Dad passed away last year we moved back to the farm (hubby and I had purchased it 20 years ago) with my Mom, hubby and our two youngest kids. During this time I have done a lot of soul searching and made a few more changes here and there. I have come to realize over the last 3 years what I want in life is something I already had. I want the animals, I want the gardens, canned fresh food, milk cow, fresh cheese, even staying up with a sick animal. I want it all.
Mom and Dad spent years teaching me by word, hard work and example what I didn't want or think I would ever need to learn. Now there is not a day that goes by that I do not remember how "Dad did it this way" or Dad and Mom told me so long ago that the lines ran under ground here, or where the wild mushrooms or berries tend to grow. Also, how to can your harvest and what to put in the cellar or how to tend a sick cow and on and on. So I hope the future tells me I am as good a parent as my parents were. I guess to make a long story short, what I am saying is after all these years I have come full circle. I finally understand Mom and Dad and I am working toward my past.
With lots of love, thanks :)