Relative Something

It’s been a little over a month since our adventurous trip to Iceland, and the thrills of the experience are still resonating. As I was sitting in our newly established lookout knoll with the horses grazing nearby yesterday, I recognized a feeling in me that matched those thrills of standing in the presence of incredible waterfalls or striking basalt columns or the spectacular ice formations of a glacier.

Listening to the quiet natural sounds of distant bird calls, feeling the combination of the warm sunshine and the cool breeze, and watching the little details of how the horses were behaving filled me with a sense of gratitude for the moment.

In Iceland, after flying for hours across an ocean, we drove long distances and walked for miles to reach amazing sites that presented a similar sense of awe. I only need to open my door and step outside to find myself in a place that offers me equivalent satisfaction.

It is as if I am on vacation at my very own home.

Plenty of people prefer travel adventures for fulfillment. I am not one of them. An occasional road trip serves me just fine, but more often than not, I prefer to stay home and soak up my immediate surroundings.

It is not lost on me that we are living in a place of exceptional natural beauty.

With our log home on the top of the hill surrounded by forest and fields, combined with the magnificent energy of the herd of four horses, this place makes me feel like I am on vacation every day.

It probably doesn’t hurt that we’ve put a lot of sweat equity into improving and maintaining some of the features. That’s just part of my nature. I saw several opportunities on trails in Iceland that I felt an urge to tend to as well.

Taking care of the land fits into the kind of things I like being able to do. It’s pretty great I get to include that in my vacation life on our glorious acres at home.

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