Beautiful Things

This week was the culmination of an unbelievable amount for work as we put on the Wild West Community Fair I was the organizer for this year. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this day – literally. It went well. I was pleased, and relieved: it presented to the community a lot of things I believe in.

I love people. I love helping people. I love having conversations with them. I love learning from them. I love being amazed by them. But, humans are complicated.

Today, after going straight from coaching a U6 soccer game to setting up and running and cleaning up the fair, delivering eggs in exchange for blueberries, then having a lovely but fidgety movie evening with my family, to going out and feeding and checking on the animals, my brain found itself in shock. 

Because all day it had been going something like this:

“I’ve asked this expert to speak, is there anyone that might have a different view? Should I put this tent in this location or will someone else want it? If I play these two kids on the field will I be able to watch the other two on the bench? Am I watching my own kids enough while I supervise this activity? Am I being too firm with them? Have I thanked everyone I should? Did everything get cleaned up alright? DId everyone enjoy it? Did the boys clean the eggs well enough for the delivery? …”

And suddenly found itself in the quiet of a field at sunset, with beauty and peace.

I like animals because, compared to humans, they’re easy. And that is coming from someone who studied people for a living. If a cow moos at you or your chicken seems a bit saggy, you can google it and fix it. But it wasn’t just the simplicity of problem solving that gave my heart peace tonight.

It was beautiful. It was quiet. The animals had a respect for and interest in one another that only beasts defined by simple needs and satisfied by such simple ends as basic food and shelter can share. I could sit in the peace amongst creatures that knew me and were glad I was there.

We can learn a lot from them, if we try. As I walked back toward the house, knowing my children were sleeping in their beds, with food in their bellies and a safe loving home, I was grateful for those small and simple things in life too.  I love the beautiful peace of the wild things, and the tame ones too.