This is what an Easter Parade looks like out in the country. Normally, I would be in town at church on any given Sunday. But yesterday I just didn’t feel good…wicked headache. I have company coming today and had lots to do, so I stayed home. A friend brought me some ginger ale and medicine for my tummy and I just fiddled around the yard and the house all day. It felt good to just lay low. I even missed a concert last night that I had been looking forward to. But sometimes self care wins.

As I was pulling the overgrown grape vine out of the spirea bush out front, I heard a tractor coming up the road. I could see there was a wagon and horses and lots of people so I went back up to the house for my phone. I couldn’t miss an opportunity like this!

The gentleman on the tractor there is a relative of mine…second cousin twice removed or some such thing. These are good country folk. Hard working, God fearing, fun loving people. They gathered after church and came up the road in a community outreach to invite people to the Revival in May. They stopped for a visit and gave me a potted petunia. It warmed my heart.

I’ve changed a lot since I’ve moved back to West Virginia. I grew up here so I’m no stranger to the simple life. But I lived in Colorado for 40 years…well over half of that as a doctor’s wife. I got used to a different lifestyle. I drove a Mercedes. I wore a fur. I had a big house and didn’t have to work. I was a spoiled princess. After Mr. Virgo died, I didn’t want that anymore. I didn’t want the big house and all the stuff. I got rid of just about all of it. And bought a truck. And a camper. And drove and drove and drove in search of the real me. God knew I needed to “come home to WV”. When the opportunity to farm-sit came by, I didn’t miss a beat and gladly jumped at the chance to live in my Grandma’s house.

I’ve come to appreciate simplicity. Country folk are good folk. I knew something had changed in me when my fur coat made me uncomfortable. It wasn’t me anymore. I feel more real than I have in most of my adult life. I’m so much softer and genuine. And happy. I couldn’t understand the allure of West Virginia before. I used to get so angry with my mother when I’d try to get her to come to Colorado to live. She insisted she live here. Now I get it. There will probably come a time when I’ll move back to Colorado to be near my kids. But not just yet. There is much more growing…much more healing…much more love to be shared here first. For now, I am home. ❤️

“A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life. The rich can be sued for everything they have, but the poor are free of such threats.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭13:7-8‬ ‭MSG‬‬