A Highway Less Travled

Last night, I spent some time looking through some old picture books of my ancestors with my mom and dad and one of my brothers.

Books that had laid around all my life, but had never exactly picqued my curiosity. Photo books of people I'd never met and that looked frankly pretty boring. Life was a little different then.

Back then, when people talked about teams, it wasn't about which team won the super bowl. It was which team would be hitched up to disk the field. It was a time when Sunday afternoons weren't spent running to Wal-Mart for the week's groceries. It was spent at someone's house relaxing and talking. It was a time when

a man's word and a handshake were all that was needed for a sale. As I looked through these black and white photos, some so old they were faded and crinkled on the edges...I saw a hard life in those photos. Smiles were found in but a few of the pictures. They weren't unhappy.....they were just themselves. It'd be nice if

people today would just be themselves. No facades, no emotional roller-coasters, no back-stabbing and name-calling. Just me...being me.

Work was a four-letter word that everyone understood. Clothes weren't designed for attractiveness. They were designed for holding up under a 12 hour work day. Some of these photos were 100 years old. Most of them were 70-80 years old. I was afraid to touch them, for fear of damaging them. Overalls. Saw mills. Horsebacks. Schoolhouses. Life was most definitely different then.

And as I listened to the stories my mom and dad told me that had been told to them over the past 50 plus years, I began to realize how important the past is becoming to me. That past shaped who I am now. That past will shape the person I'm going to be. That past is shaping the man and women that my children will be one day.

It's called a heritage. The word isn't too far from the word inheritance. My family's roots run deep in this county. Our roots run deep, our pockets never have. But I still consider it all an inheritance. What it means to work. The importance of family. Respecting the land. Respecting your neighbor, even though he voted for the

other party, and listened in on the party line(anyone else remember what a party line is?).

So what's your heritage? Do you even know? Has life so consumed your time, that you have no

time to look forward....or backward? It's not a secret that life has sped to a breaking point for many people.

It's not too unlike traveling a highway in which everyone around you is going ten miles over the speed limit. You'd better keep up, or you'll get run over. Sometimes.....and more often the older I get....I'd like

to find a road less traveled, and a whole lot slower. Sound good to anyone else? A road where deadlines can die, along with the cellphone signal. A road where some quiet time is longer than 30 minutes at the end of the day. Enough quiet that I can hear God when He speaks. A place where my mind can sort out what's right and wrong instead of the media telling me. A place where I talk to my family, instead of talk about them.

Where I can smile because of peace, rather than the tv show that's on.

100% of Americans will tell you that life is better now than 100 years ago. I'm not so sure. Yeah, I love my microwave, my ipod, my fast food. But what I truly love is life. And I worry that this super-highway I'm on is making my life pass like a train-ride on one of those crazy Euro trains. It's a blur. I feel like a

dog chasing his tail, and I'm sure I look about as stupid too. Is this fast pace really life, or is it a mirage? Isn't it like a tv set, in which everything and everyone seem so real, but then the camera shuts off, the makeup comes off, and the set is torn down? I want the real deal. I want my life back. I think I'd like things a little more

simple and slow. I always hated getting behind and elderly couple (hmm, talked about this in my last post...). I was, and still am, always in a rush when I'm driving. The fastest way from point A to point B has been my motto and mojo. But what did I miss in-between? Of course, this is a foolish question, because I have no idea!

I was driving too fast!

I tell each of you reading this....Our life is point A to point B. Why are you rushing it? Why are you hell-bent on a satisfaction that money simply cannot and never will be able to buy? In fact, the rest of my life, I hope I get three F's. No, not like a grade. It is this: my family, my faith, and my farm. I think I can be pretty content enjoying those three things....and a box of Cheez-Its. But that doesn't start with an F. Get off the computer. Enjoy your family. Go for a walk(when it warms up:) Find a way to s...l....o....w.....d.....o....w....n. Maybe you'll take an exit off this crazy, super-paced highway and find a highway less traveled where the pace is a little more amiable. I'll be looking for you, cause that's where I plan to be.

God bless :)