Sunday, April 4, 2010

When Traditional Meets the Unconventional

 I truly love the life we are living, and normally embrace the unconventional aspects of it.  It has been good for me.  It has grown me as person.  I confess that when it comes to holidays, I have a real problem with it though.  There are two dynamics that I've noticed are becoming a part of our holiday theme.  One is that we no longer have that same excitement about holidays.  We live the life we normally looked forward to when holidays did occur.  So holidays are just not all that unique or special in the same way.  We don't have the same need for days of rest or for family time since that is how we live pretty much every single day.
 The other thing I've noticed is that I still tend to want to cling to the traditional while the rest of the family is like...not so much.  They want to keep our holidays more in kind to our whole lives and feel no need to continue doing the same things we used to on those days.  And really, I understand the logic in that thinking.  Because it makes more sense to overall live the life you want than to strive for that a few certain days out of the year.  But the emotional side of me is having a temper tantrum because I still want some days that are really different than the rest.  I like special sometimes, even when I'm not sure how to make that happen.  Our desires have clashed in some pretty ugly ways because of it.  It has me feeling a bit like this:

Today, I decided to try something that would in fact make the day different for me.  If the old traditions aren't working, maybe it is time for new ones I thought.  So I hopped in the truck and went and took one of those Sunday drives that I said last year that I was going to try to do and learn to like.

It was a great day for it.  Sunny and warm.  The air smelled sweet from blossoming flowers.  And since it was just me, I could go at my own pace.  I confess, I rather liked this Sunday drive thing.  I still don't see myself doing it on a regular basis, but I really might be able to make this one of my new holiday traditions.


I've been stressed about some things to do with my girls.  I could feel that stress just melting away the longer I was out and snapping pictures.
I don't think I really hit my groove with the whole thing though until I came across these fine creatures.
I was pretty captivated by them.  They were somewhat intrigued by me.  Mostly, we just stared at each other.  Ok, I confess that they were probably staring at me because I was in a noisy dually truck.  Standing on the hood to get better shots.  In a skirt.  I stared at them because it's been a long time since I realized how awesome cows are.
And somehow, that was enough for me for the moment.  Just being outside, alive and aware of the life around me seemed special enough.  I'm a woman in my forties, so it remains to be seen if that will be enough next time.  But it was good for today and today is all that matters, right?

Happy Easter from Florida!  Hope your day was special too!

5 comments:

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

You go girl! That is the way to take charge of your life.

Been there and done that (tradition-change thing) but it took me quite a bit longer to get to where you got with your Sunday drive.

Happy Spring!!

The Valentines said...

I still have little ones so things like Easter are still equated with 'gifts', therefore the day is special because of that (to them anyway!)!

I know what you mean though, the traditions I grew up with are not the ones we are passing on to our children. Our lives were different the moment we moved to the USA, having no family meant we never followed what we had done before - I love that you found your own way yesterday :)

jaci said...

I'm so feeling the same way, but in an empty nest sort of way.

Love the cows. ;)

laurie l. goodman said...

what an eloquent blog entry! great pics!

krystal, wow. thanx for sharing.

i love what you did and i have done the same on sundays. although, in my case, i went to the same park with my son for several sundays in a row. then, the odd time alone. quiet with my camera. truly taking in my surroundings from small to large details. what a meditative process! if you keep doing this, you just might look forward to it, crave it. maybe you need more 'me' time than you realized. :)

well, i say, why can't you have it all if you want to?there's nothing wrong with hanging a few decorations and having a special dinner! you can have it all girl!

when we were on the road, we celebrated christmas-it was different-smaller tree, less gifting, not the same people we were used to being with. but we brought some of our family traditions with us... like christmas eve open house with goodies, secret santa, reading from my childhood copy of twas the night before christmas. i bought the rosemary tree i'd always wanted as our tree. we skyped with family and visited with friends. mixing the traditional with the unconventional is possible and you get a new result every time!

whatever works. you're right, what is good today, may be different tomorrow. you'll know...

be well! xx laur

Brits On Tour said...

I know what you mean, love Jane xxx