Yesterday, I took Q for a drive in the country. It was a bright, beautiful day and I wanted to take some pictures. I timed it according to Q’s nap schedule, in anticipation of him falling asleep, which would allow me to get a few good shots. It was a good plan, though he didn’t fall asleep as quickly as I had expected “Look Mommy! Barn!” “Look Mommy! Horsies!” “Look Mommy. A HOUSE!” He was so excited to not only see new things, but everyday things in a different setting. It hadn’t occurred to me how little exposure he gets to open fields, farms, rolling hills, and trees growing wherever the seed fell.
As I drove along all the back roads (the smaller, the better), everything felt oddly familiar. For most of my childhood and all of my adolescence, I lived in a small town surrounded by dairy farms, animals, open fields, and gravel roads. Sometimes, I think about how enriched my childhood experiences were because of it, but most of the time I take it for granted.
Since we have chosen to raise Q in the city suburbs, we’ll have to make a concerted effort to make sure he knows that milk doesn’t just come from a grocery store, and horses don’t just exist in books. I want him to learn how to milk a cow, hold a bucket to feed a calf, and dodge bird droppings in a hay mow. I want him to run through corn fields and climb trees and play with frogs and snakes and all those things I used to love, but that scare me senseless now.
I took a few good pics (all from my car while stopped on the side of the road). There were many times I wished I could have taken a picture with my eyes; there was so much beauty that I couldn’t capture for fear of our lives – one back road was literally carved into a hill and dropped off with no guard rail!
I drove for an hour and a half and it was the most refreshing, restorative way I could have spent my afternoon. The best part was that every time I drove east, I was being led by the moon – out in the middle of a sunny day! If you look closely, you might be able to see it in the photo below.
More pics of my adventure have been posted here. Enjoy! 
Were you a city kid or a country kid?
Are you exposing your child(ren) to different ways of living – city or country? How?