City Mouse and Country Mouse

Remember the fable about the city and country mouse? The Country Mouse is happy with his quiet life but his cousin, the City Mouse, convinces him he should come to the big city which is much more exciting. I forget the exact moral of the story but I think it was something about being content with a quiet life and anyway I simply mention it here to point out that I am the City Mouse but I'm shacking up at the Country Mouse's home for awhile.


It's really funny when I think about it because I didn't grow up in a big city but I was at least in the middle of civilization my whole life. I hate the taste of well-water, I despise having to drive more than five minutes to run errands, and I like a strong cell phone connection. Also, I love big city life....the hustle and bussle, the big concerts, the millions of things to do in walking distance, the tall buildings, the diversity, the food...everything really. But somehow I am currently living in Upland, IN. There are two gas stations, one grocery store (which also moonlights as a Dollar Store), a few churches, and a well-known ice cream joint. I live on top of a hill, surrounded by a corn field and a soy bean field (or so I've been told) and we own a burn barrel???


But I really have come to love parts of country life already... Like I love the stars at night in the country, there is absolutely nothing keeping them from shining as bright as possible and it is magnificent. And I'm loving the view of the fields and trees from the window above our kitchen sink while I do dishes. And I like riding my 80's bike past all the fields and old houses. The hundred-year-old curtains in our house are absolutely perfect too and I think my love of vintage things fits in well out here in the country. And all the other things are starting to not seem quite so bothersome...I barely gag on the water when I'm brushing my teeth and we consolidate errand trips so we don't have to make tons of trips to destinations 20- 30 minutes away.  So I guess the moral of this story is that the City Mouse can be content too. Because I am.