Sunset on the Farm

One of my favorite quotes from the book Ishmael (by Daniel Quinn):

It’s the idea that people living close to nature tend to be noble. It’s seeing all those sunsets that does it. You can’t watch a sunset and then go off and set fire to your neighbor’s tepee. Living close to nature is wonderful for your mental health.

I took pictures of the sunset on the farm every day for a week…

I’ve been watching these sunsets for three years, and it never gets old.

I don’t think I’ve ever told this story before, but, growing up, at least half the time (divorced parents) I lived on a house in the country. The front yard faced west. Which always felt weird to me… on the day that there was a beautiful sunset I had to sit–akwardly–in the front yard and watch the sun set over the road and the houses across the street.

So I’d always had this idea in my head that “my house” would have a back yard that faced west.

It’s not the only thing that drew me to this place, but it’s one of them. Will you look at that? Every day is a different and amazing show of beauty.

Three years ago I knelt in the back yard (in the middle of winter) and “prayed” to the universe… I’m not particularly religious (obv) but I do believe in offering something when you’re asking for something. And I was asking for maybe the most important thing in my life…

So I offered hard work. I said, “I’ll work for this, as hard as you want me to, as long as you’ll give me the chance to make it mine.”

I don’t take that vow lightly, and I work for it every damn day. I’ve never been happier to work for something in my life.

And even though I built an awesome house a few years ago that, in theory, I would have loved to live in forever… and even though I’ve been to exotic locations in the last three years that have better horizons, better weather, a better atmosphere… all of those things grow old for me after a few days. But in three year, this never has…

I still put off social plans for an hour (or so) just so I have time to watch the sunset on the farm. I rush home after work. I find myself out in the field time and time again. And even though I grow desensitized to the “most beautiful” vacation spots in the world inside of three or four days, this one? It never gets old…

And that’s part of the reason I know I’m home.