Quality Of Life

When people ask me why I would want to move so far from the city and exclaim how I must hate the drive I simply reply with a smile and say that it’s the quality of life I prefer.  Yes, I hope to live for many years and watch my children grow and maybe even seen a grandchild or two, but frankly the quality of my life is more important to me than the quantity. 

I was reminded of this today as we drove to the grocery store when we saw a herd of elk crossing the highway.  Traffic had come to a stop to allow the elk to cross; it was probably only a back up of 5 or 8 cars, nothing to get worked up about.  I rolled the window down so Clare could see the elk, which she had already pointed out and took a quick picture.

As soon as the elk crossed a car honked its horn at me and revved it’s engine as it passed; the driver of the car was throwing his hands up and making an ugly face at me.  I smiled at him.  I’m sorry that his life is one that he is in such a hurry that he can’t enjoy seeing a herd of elk pass and take in the beauty that is our world.   I hope he safely got to wherever he was going in such a hurry; he missed some pretty amazing elk.

On our way home I noticed a number of cars pulled over on the side of the road up above the playground that Clare enjoys, I wondered what they were looking at so we went to look.  I guess the elk just wanted to play a little ball this afternoon.  Amanda counted nearly 50 of them. 

I’ll never grow tired of the scenery where we live, I can get lost looking out the window; I love it.  We are so fortunate to live up here, it’s an experience I never thought I’d be able to have and am so grateful for.  I am excited to watch Clare grow up and experience everything there is up here.  Yes we’ll have to load her bike in the car to go someplace where she can learn to ride, but that’s a fair trade in my mind.  Not every little kid has horses in her backyard, hummingbirds that fly around her house, elk, deer, fox and other wildlife right outside her window. 

I’m grateful for my life today.