We Are Different

I can get a little wrapped up in my own little bubble sometimes. The bubble of families who journey a similar path as we do, the bubble of my lovely blog friends who live simply on this earth as we do, the bubble of our life here on this little homestead we call home. Then something happens to burst my bubble.

The burst is usually a big one, often from a place of judgement or negativity, both places I don’t like.

 

On Sunday I ventured into the big city of Toronto to attend a friend’s baby shower. I was looking forward to the shower, my girlfriend is journeying a path similar to ours with dreams of a little homestead of her own one day. She is a fellow nutritionist, Ironman athlete and natural parenting advocate, so yes; we have a lot in common.

I only knew one other person on the guest list, so I was looking forward to meeting some new faces. And I did. You know how conversations go...people want to know how you know the guest of honour, where you live, what you do, and so on. They asked questions about Reece, who was with me and the conversation moved toward our lifestyle, our homestead and life learning.

Then it happened, my bubble burst, but not in a way it has burst before. It burst with gratitude, joy and love. You see the couple I was talking to, about ten years older than me, were genuinely interested. I mean really interested. They wanted to know about our gardens and what we grew, how we preserved our food, the chickens, the soon to be bee hives and everything else we are planning on this little plot of land we call home. And then the questions about life learning, but smart intelligent questions, not just the “what about socialization” questions, but questions about how we have set things up, how and if I will set up any type of structure, the Waldorf philosophy and so on. Smart, interesting questions which allowed me to share, not defend, our decisions.

It was wonderful!

The end of our conversation was met with much sadness. There was so much more I wanted to share with them, so much more I wanted them to know.

As I drove home, I thought about how different the life we are leading is from the norm. Living in my little bubble I often forget that. This encounter though, totally different from ones in the past which have me defending instead of sharing, warmed my heart and tickled my soul.

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I am guest posting over at Little Coffee Beans today, please stop by and say hi!