Friday after work I packed up the car and headed south 3 hours to spend time with Greg. For one brief moment I asked myself what it would be like to not have to do this “split-in-two life”. My Fridays of old would have started with me hanging around the house (probably watching Oprah at 4:00) just waiting for Greg to step off the bus from his job downtown Des Moines. I would see him out of the window walking across the church parking lot from the bus stop only a block way. What would we have done? Probably walk up to the Flying Mango, one of our favorite local restaurants. Then on this warm spring evening we would have probably gone for a walk and visited with neighbors spending time outside rejoicing at this opportunity to escape their winter caves.
However appealing that still sounds to me now, it somehow felt a little boring and I actually found myself looking forward to my time in KC and not even minding the 3 hour drive. I use this time to either listen to podcasts or music and I love watching the country side and the change of seasons before my eyes. I enjoy the benefits of living in the city, but I also long to be out in the country!
My KC friend Molly actually also has a type of “split-in-two-life”. She grew up on a farm in NW Iowa, so she has a side of her that loves horses, animals and the country life. However, Molly also has a big city girl inside of her. She has a good paying management job in KC, loves art, theater, shopping, make-up and the latest styles and trends in fashion, as well as eating out at diverse restaurants. She was the one to introduce me, back in the 80’s, to trying to eat more than just hamburgers. Now I love Indian, Mediterranean and other ethnic restaurants.
Molly now has the best of both worlds in KC. She married Jeff who has a farm just south of KC. Greg calls it a “hobby farm” since they don’t grow crops. Basically their farm is home to hundreds of animals and I’m not exaggerating too much with that statement. They have not only many cats and dogs, but goats, sheep, cows, a buffalo named Cheyenne, a llama or two, donkeys, horses, peacocks, geese, ducks, turkeys, chickens, and two indoor parrots. Jeff is a regular Dr. Doolittle, or animal whisper!
This weekend as I was in KC, we called Molly to see if she was free to go out for lunch with us Saturday. Of course Molly wanted to, but she explained she was playing the part of a “farm wife” this weekend. She was doing some chores with Jeff that dealt with baby chicks and another task involving hay. We finally met Molly Sunday early evening for dinner at an Indian restaurant and heard the details of what the chickens and hay involved…. But no need for that detail here.
I guess my point today is that having greater options, opportunities and experiences that come from living a “split-in-to-life” is worth the extra effort it takes to juggle this type of life style. It seems to be working for Molly and I believe it is working quite well for Greg and I at this time.
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