Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time there was a woman named Cheryl Lindsey who was the editor of a magazine called Gentle Spirit. The magazine promoted homesteading/head covering/home birthing/home schooling/back to the land gardening etc and I enjoyed reading about their big family and their lifestyle. Well, to make a long story short, when the "truth" of the matter came out it was discovered that the family was falling apart and they no longer did many of the things that they wrote about. And the readership was outraged. They were incensed because somehow the Lindseys had deceived them, had disappointed them, didn't live up to the ideal that they had promoted.

I have enjoyed writing my blog, I like telling about our lifestyle, but I'm afraid that somewhere along the way the point has been lost that I'm a real person. I didn't wake up from a hundred years sleep, stumble into this life and decide to blog about it. I *do* have an antiquated life that I *have* chosen because I enjoy it, but I don't exist to serve the "lifestyle". Rather, the "lifestyle" exists to serve me. I have no intention of living in a living history museum and the minute that I don't love what I'm doing or another idea seems better, then I will drop this lifestyle and do something else. I'm not a slave to it. I don't have to (or want to) make sure that everything is period correct, I live in the 21st century. I want to take what I perceive as the best of the past and sculpt my own life from then and now.

I have posted nothing that isn't the truth, but just because I grind wheat to make bread doesn't mean that I always do. I (or somebody here) cooks the majority of our meals at home, but that doesn't mean that we never eat out. I like Chinese as a matter of fact. I do sew a lot of what we wear, but that doesn't mean that there aren't store bought clothes here. We have and use kerosene lamps, but not always. I have an automatic washer and an electric stove.

I admitted that I sent Mr. G out for a Mountain Dew (and drank it for breakfast no less) but let's keep it in perspective, It's a MOUNTAIN DEW for crying out loud, I didn't become a crack ho for a day.

I'm just a real person, living a real life, with real temptations and struggles. Don't deceive yourself by thinking that, somehow, I have all my ducks in a row more so than you do. Yes, you can probably learn something from me, just as I can and have learned things from you and your life. I love my life and I'm glad that you like to read about it, but I don't want it to turn into a prison sentence. I hope you can read this in the sense that I intend it (which is nicely and humbly) because I'm dismayed that my day yesterday provoked such disillusionment in some readers.