My Dream ... Others Laugh

Have you ever, in all your life, had a dream that was so persistent, so consuming, that you thought about it every day. I have.

For the last 20 years or so ... give or take since I'm in my 50's ... I've had a dream to raise chickens and llamas and live in a stone house. I have investigated possibilities, read about the difficulties and imagined the work/fun it would be to create my dream. Finally, I have started along the path to my dream. Whether or not I fulfill my dream is not important. Whether or not I take steps to create my dream is now what is most important to me.

Let me start with the idea of raising Chickens. I have had chickens before. Only six of them, and we named them after the characters in the Popeye cartoon. There was Popeye, Olive Oyle, Sweet Pea, Bluto, Wimpy and I can't remember the other one (ugh). They were sweet beings that gave us eggs and talked to me every morning when I brought them their food. I felt like the Pied Piper because they would follow me around, as soon as I opened their pen. This is when they began their days work. They ate the bugs in the yard. The scratched the grass out from around the shrubs, trees and porch - keeping the area clean when I could not get to mow it. All this yard work on their part helped them to create wonderful eggs for our consumption. They were big and beautifully golden yoked eggs. We got more than we could use (as a family of four) and gave them to friends and family. This was a wonderful relationship. For my part, I kept their pen clean. Kept them safe from predators and gave them treats, such as corn and strawberries. They loved both these and would make sweet cackling noises when given them. I miss them. For their part, they ate the bugs & tics so I never had to worry about my dogs or the kids, and gave us delicious eggs.

On to Llamas ..... I knew nothing of them until about 10 years ago when a friend and I went to a Llama Bazaar. What a hoot!! We got to see all kinds of llamas, took some of them for walks, saw the products they produced from their coats of thick hair, discovered lots about how they lived and worked. We got to take a ride in a pony cart pulled by a Llama, found them to be friendly, hardy beings who could tolerate extreme heat and/or cold and were happy with a shelter of only a lean two. Their 'dung' does not draw flies and is excellent manure for gardens, etc. AND, if you have more than one llama, they poop in one spot, a communal dung pile, as they call it. Plus, you can (and some people actually do) take them to nursing homes and schools for positive interactions between them and those who do not often get to see animals up close and personal ! !

Stone Houses...........I love them. Don't know why. But I recently found out that my parents, when they were first married were searching for a home to purchase and they had focused solely on homes with a stone exterior. No, I wasn't born yet. And no, I have never lived in a stone house. But have desired one ever since I was first contemplating living in my own home.

Well the above is my 'dream'. Most family members have, over the years, laughed at my dream. I never understood that and, as a result, I have never laughed at my childrens dreams they would relate to me as they grew up.

But it seems things are slowly changing. One of my sisters has confided in me that she and her husband are looking at land up in Maine - high up in the middle of nowhere. This is their dream that they've never shared with anyone, living in Maine. Aha! ! So, there are closet dreamers out there, I've discovered ! !

Any of you have a dream? And, what are you doing about it. Don't give up. This is one phrase I love to quote: "It's not the destination, but the journey." Finally, I'm enjoying my journey.

~ The Mediator

ps. One of these days, I'm going to figure out how to add links to my blog.