Plan What You Can, Then Go With the Flow

We had an interesting experience this Holiday break. Every year, Burton gets at least a week off of work in between Christmas and New Year’s, but this year with how the holidays worked out, for the price of three vacation days, we were able to extend that one week to two full weeks of vacation! Wahooo!!! The first part of the break was incredibly productive. One of the priority jobs of the break was to get all of our hay moved. For context, let me describe our hay delivery mechanism. We generally get hay in the large, round, 6x6ft 1400lb bales, which is great for work management (we only need to reload each feeder every few weeks), and for weather management (they don’t need to be tarped), but not for delivery management. Access to our home-base area is via a road that has pretty steep dropoffs on either side (read unsafe for a semi to turn in), and the home-base area itself is pretty bereft of any flat working area, so unloading said semi, if it could get in, would be very hazardous. The gate into the main valley a mile up the road, however, is very gentle and opens onto a lovely flat field. So the hay is always delivered a mile north of the house and then we ferry it home three bales at a time on our car hauler trailer. At the start of vacation, we’d already moved over about half of the round bales, but they were scattered all over where they’d landed after being rolled off the trailer (the kids love this stage of hay transport, because their favorite fall/winter game is bale tag, and it’s more fun when they’re all haphazard). That first day, Burton got all of the round bales we already had over here organized and nine more bales brought over from the main valley. Then the second day we got all the rest of the rounds moved and one load of square bales (To finish out the supply this year we had to get 52 3x3x8ft bales, not ideal, but when needs must…). Wahoo!!! That was amazing progress!!!

And then life struck hard and fast:

You get the picture.

And Burton got caught in the maelstrom. The interesting thing is that this particular maelstrom is normal for everyone else in the family, it’s just life. But not for Burton. He sees it a bit, but mostly he sits at a desk and functions in the very predictable, very regimented world of work, where maelstroms are carefully controlled. Consequently, plunging into the fray was a bit of a shock, because the work-a-day process of setting goals and objectives, and then systematically checking them off, doesn’t really translate. It was tough, but we made it through: the bales all got moved and adequately tarped, for now. Grace got out of the barn, and she has trimmed feet, a great big run, and a shelter. Turk retired and peace reigns in the boys’ pen. All the breeding pens got broken up and the rams safely reintroduced to each other. The extension cords got replaced. Christmas was delightful

Long story short: the Christmas Break was successful!!!

As Burton and I talked about the whole experience, it got me thinking. I’ve concluded that life is a journey that is less like a road trip with predictable stops and gentle ups and downs, and more like a white water rafting expedition. You start the float with a clear destination in mind, but the journey to get there is wild, crazy, unpredictable, and ever changing. There are calm sections of the river that are peaceful and tranquil, and there are bits that require every ounce of your strength, stamina, and courage, and you feel like you’re going up, down, and sideways all at the same time. The secret to success in the whole thing is flexibility. Move with the river, adapt to the current conditions, try to remember the end goal, and, most importantly, enjoy the ride!!! That last bit is the one I need to work on. When you’re on a whitewater rafting trip, those crazy moments are really the reason you signed up in the first place: the adrenaline, the excitement, the opportunity to conquer the elements, and the calm sections are a beautiful respite. In real life, sometimes we forget the possibilities for joy in the craziness, and we spend the quiet moments bracing for and dreading the next rapids. Basically, we make everything heavy and discouraging. Maybe if we practice a little more flexibility and a lot more joy, the experience could be different.

This new year, may we all get better at being flexible on the journey through all of its unpredictable twists and turns, and may we honestly and truly learn to enjoy the journey, whether it’s calm and peaceful or a wild and crazy ride!