Bloom where you are planted

I have bought a copy of Rhonda's new book, Down to Earth, and am having a lovely time reading it. It is a charming book and so beautifully put together. I have been reading Rhonda's blog for years now and am constantly inspired by her and her husband Hanno. One section of her book - Bloom where you are planted - looks at making the most of what you have instead of daydreaming over what you would like. This resonated deeply with me because in the last few weeks I had also come to that realisation myself.

We moved into our home 13 years ago, it is a project home we had built for us and because we were only young and didn't have a lot of money we opted to finish a lot of it ourselves. When we moved in I was 5 months pregnant and we were both working full time. Along comes baby etc etc etc and of course all that work didn't get done. Lack of money, then as the years passed and we started earning decent money it became a case of lack of time. A few years after we moved in I turned 30 and then a few weeks later Sept 11 occurred, both events resulting in a profound shift in what I wanted from life and therefore my home. I started dreaming of a few acres with the big vege patch, the little orchard and lot of chooks.

Then as my eyes were on a different prize I lost focus on the home we had and couldn't make decisions on what to do with it, always worrying about what would bring the best resale price. Needless to say years passed with me still dithering. That's not to say we didn't achieve anything, we did, a lot, but still... About six months ago I decided, who cares, I'll do what I want and the new owners can worry about anything they don't like. I still didn't get it.

Then a couple of weeks ago it finally hit me. I had never really thought of this as home. I loved it, but still I dreamed of something else and therefore wasn't making this home into what I really wanted. I decided I could make this into what I wanted, just on a smaller scale. I have a vege garden and I can make it better provide for us. I can have an orchard by planting a few well chosen fruit trees in the backyard. And I already have the chooks (a couple of years ago I decided I was too impatient and couldn't wait for the acres to get the chooks!).

So now I am blooming where I am planted. I am planning and doing the things I really want for my home, where ever that may be.