I LOVE this piece ....
Heather, the author, says:
“In going through old papers, I found this—a rare printout from the digital era, a single page that I had written in December of 2011, over ten years ago. Many of the major devices and platforms that we give our time to—iPhone, Facebook, twitter—already existed when I wrote this, but they were still nascent, and it was a different world. Still, while my words here are perhaps a bit dated, they also, I think, have a timelessness worth sharing.”
The trivia of days
https://naturalselections.substack.com/p/triviaofdays?utm_source=%2Fprofile%2F13611183-heather-heying&utm_medium=reader2
A very brief excerpt (read it all!):
Instead we have the ascent of the trivial. Before, the mundane was also the fundamental, and therefore not trivial at all.
Tilling, sowing, harvesting, storing.
Grinding, kneading, shaping, eating.
Consulting, gathering, extracting, healing.
Chopping, carrying, stacking, lighting.
Shearing, carding, spinning, weaving.
And even when it was not strictly fundamental, still it was purposeful. Out of purpose arises emergent qualities; the mundane can produce beauty and meaning.
Whittling, fastening, tinkering, building.
Collecting, drying, grinding, painting.
Wedging, shaping, firing, glazing.
Sitting, talking, remembering, projecting.
Or maybe those things are, indeed, just as fundamental. We are artisans and artists, makers of forms both functional and fanciful. And we are storytellers to our core.
That was terrific! Well said and thoughtful.
People often ask me how I fill my days now that I’m retired, living out in the boonies and alone a good chunk of the time while Beau is off hunting, fishing, hunting, fishing, hunting, fishing and hunting, LOL! (It’s HIS retirement; I knew what I was signing up for.)
Mainly, my days are just ‘treading water’ to keep up with the many, MANY things that need doing around here, just to keep life functional for us and the animals! And, of course, the garden takes up a good chunk of 3/4 of the year (March - October, usually) and then volunteer work/projects, family obligations and other artsy pursuits.
I don’t remember how I had TIME to work, let alone raise kids!
‘Nature never hurries, yet everything is accomplished.’
Great post! Thanks so much! I have 30 minutes to goof off, then on to dog and barn chores. ;)