Today was the second day of 5am weeding with knives in the Aronia feild...my room mate asked me around 9am this morning if I felt alright because I looked "tired" code for you look like a sloppy piece of composted animal waste. I responded with a polite thank you, I am tired and in an attempt to conserve energy I will not be smiling for the rest of the morning...people seemed to think that was a joke. I never joke while weeding with knives.
Why weed with a knife you might ask? Because the ground is hard, clay-ey, and very VERY dry, this makes for an excellent workout if your goal is scary Madonna arms...my goal is not scary Madonna arms, but I don't think my boss would have taken that as a valid excuse to sit back and relax in the 102 degree heat.
Sarcasm aside, it wasn't all that bad; we took breaks every hour to down some water and during a stroke of genius and heat I thought of what my step dad told me to do: put a wet cloth underneath my hat to keep me cool. Now, I didn't have a cloth but I do have some absorbent hair, so I poured a good amount of water over my head and plopped back on my hat. No one else followed my lead of drench yourself with water, and I'm sure no one else felt as awesome as I did either so Na Na Na boo boo.
Today we weeded with two ladies who volunteered to help out just because they rock. And I mean like for real these women were great, they were both over 50, one was from Poland, and the other one was like a character on a sitcom that you LOVE. The second woman, Mary was really inspiring, she used to be a computer programmer and is going back to school in the Fall for public health. We were talking about why she was pursuing another degree/field/how long it would take to complete her program and she delved into why she chose to change her career and explore new opportunities. She had been getting more and more involved in the organic movement and reading up on chemical farming, and the current climate crises we have gotten ourselves into, and she said she just got to a point where she couldn't stay stagnant. She wanted to apply herself, and she was interested in public health, and food education, so why not? She said she probably won't be completely done with school until she is about 64, and then she followed that up with, "I think after that I have about 10 good years of work left." And just looking at her, and her determination I felt like she probably had 20 good work years left! Meeting someone like that is really powerful, because here I am having breakdowns about not knowing what path to pursue, or where I want to "end up" but why do I have to "end up" anywhere? I don't think I need a concrete plan or an answer to "where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
In 10 years we might not have access to clean water, how bout we focus on that since I'm 100% sure that access to clean water will be part of my 10 year plan, and it should be part of yours as well!
Maybe I won't save the world, or be a famous actress, or writer, but it is comforting to know that no matter what I choose I can choose again, and again and for the first time I kind of like that I have so many interests, it isn't overwhelming, its endless possibility.
- Fried tomato and mozzarella on rye.
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