Last week when I was packing for our camping trip I felt myself thinking "I can't, I can't, I can't". A while ago my grandparents took my kids to McDonalds and in their Happy Meals were little Melmans that talked. For months I had three Melmans saying "I can't, I can't, I can't" all over my house. I finally got rid of the toys, but sometimes the phrase sneaks back into my mind. Yet, I'm determined not to be a Melman. I want to be a Marty. Marty wants to live in the WILD and he creates "the fun side of the island". Henry David Thoreau has a essay titled Walking and Adam has a copy in his truck. I read it this weekend and felt inspired to "live in the WILD" more often. Thoreau says things like: “How near to good is what is wild!” Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest. Not yet subdued to man, its presence refreshes him. One who pressed forward incessantly and never rested from his labors, who grew fast and made infinite demands on life, would always find himself in a new country or wilderness, and surrounded by the raw material of life. He would be climbing over the prostrate stems of primitive forest-trees.
I want to be wild. I'm sure any family/friends/associates reading this would laugh out loud at the thought of Mindi Bennett considering herself "wild". But perhaps Thoreau and I share a different definition of "wild". I don't want to be the mamma at the playground with tatoos and black lace Harley Davidson tank-tops (although I have one of those--not a tatoo, a Harley tank-top). I want to "make infinite demands on life...[and be] surrounded by the raw material of life." I want to be like my MIL who says she decided she was going to do more than just maintain, more than just barely stay afloat while raising 6 kids and running a household. I want to 'homestead' some land with my family; have goats and bees and gardens and orchards. But even here in my suburban house where the neighbors hear me shout: "Are you kidding me! Glitter all over the kitchen floor?!" or "Seriously, Sierra?! You can't stand on the couch while holding Ruby!!!" I think I'm surrounded with the wildness of life. The wildness of children, time management, nourishment, and self preservation are all mine. I am living in the WILD, the fun side of the island, even.
Last week when I was packing for our camping trip I felt myself thinking "I can't, I can't, I can't". A while ago my grandparents took my kids to McDonalds and in their Happy Meals were little Melmans that talked. For months I had three Melmans saying "I can't, I can't, I can't" all over my house. I finally got rid of the toys, but sometimes the phrase sneaks back into my mind. Yet, I'm determined not to be a Melman. I want to be a Marty. Marty wants to live in the WILD and he creates "the fun side of the island". Henry David Thoreau has a essay titled Walking and Adam has a copy in his truck. I read it this weekend and felt inspired to "live in the WILD" more often. Thoreau says things like: 
4 comments:
You I gotta say you guys ARE living wild. When I told my husband you guys went camping he said, "With a newborn? Are they crazy?" I think it's great that you go and do each day and never let anything stop you. That is WILD!
You are an inspiration to us all! And no, it does not surprise me one bit that you "consider yourself wild". Thanks, for your fun ideas/constant energy and getting me out of the house once in a while- I tend to be a "Melman" sometimes... ok, maybe a lot. I'm grateful to have friends and a great husband that pull me out of it!
I find myself in that same place. Yelling at my kids and thinking.."oh my neighbors probably heard that" Good luck!
I'd like to put in another vote for "you ARE wild"... for camping with a newborn. Nothing would inspire me to do that.
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