I've heard people say they want a simpler life and, in all honesty, we used to, too. We wanted to be able to spend more time focused on family, enjoying life instead of watching it pass us by. This lifestyle IS our simpler life. This week, for example, we've enjoyed nights by the fire, family game night, fed the ducks, I went for a "run" with Kylee and we had dinner with new friends (Trish, Wayne and Destiny). Trish even taught me to crochet.
Besides enjoying the little things, Kylee and I snuck off to the Oconaluftee Cherokee Village, while Daddy brought home the bacon. I thoroughly enjoyed myself; she entertained herself with dirt and climbing on tree roots. What an incredibly informative tour that demonstrated how they made tools, homes, and weapons essential to their life of old. It also dispelled frequent misconceptions. For example, chiefs did not wear full length head dresses and they are not "Indians". That's a term we've given them because Columbus thought he was in the West Indies. My visit into their culture definitely deepened my appreciation for the Cherokee people; Kylee, on the other hand, was not happy because they didn't dance (dances were over for the season).
So we headed to a festival in Waynesville that had live music and dancing. It wasn't Cherokee dancing, but Kylee was just as thrilled as if it had been. In the mountains, it was exactly what we expected, clogging and bluegrass. My girl even loved the music; well, the fiddle anyway. She pointed the player out and told me it was her favorite instrument. Music to my ears since lessons are planned for after Christmas. Being an arts and crafts festival, there were booths galore! Shelves full of jewelry, pottery, baskets, paintings, wood-turned wares, knitting (which made me pick mine back up - oh how I've missed it), quilting, toffee, and on and on for as far as the eye could see. I was in awe, admiring each craft, the creativity and the skill that brought it to be; Kyle humored me for as long as his patience would allow. So, his reward was a blooming onion; a funnel cake (so healthy) for Kylee and I, and the day was complete. We headed home, plotting the next day's adventure...elk.
Being so close to Cataloochee Valley during rut, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see the elk and hear that amazing bugle. So off we went. I very quickly regretted not having my car unpacked yet; boy oh boy, I had forgotten how narrow those mountain side dirt roads are. I really shouldn't have looked over the edge; definitely, SHOULDN'T have. So with a white knuckle grip on the door, I peeked through one eye as our dually tried to pass other vehicles on a road one and a half car widths wide. After what seemed an eternity, we made it to our destination. The elk did not disappoint. There's nothing like the bugle of an elk. I sat knitting and enjoying the bugles back and forth between bull elk, watching my silly goose roll around in the grass, and just enjoying the crisp, fall evening, the beauty of the foliage, and being with my family.
As I look back over our week, I smile; This is why I chose this life. We're spending more time together as a family, meeting new people and enjoying those little moments that got bypassed in the busyness of our old life. It's the little things that makes life meaningful. We're finally LIVING life and I couldn't be happier.
