griffhome.com » an invitation

Attached to this entry are several photos from a weekend where I was whisked into a storybook. The story took place in West Virginia where we conducted a one day event. Take a look and see what you think…

So, I take this moment to dream a little and ask you the question… city mouse, county mouse. Which mouse are you? Or would like to be?

In my lifetime:

First fifteen years of life - City

• Lived and rode my bicycle through the busiest intersection in western Washington.
• Home was located on a cul-de-sac with a trail to the local shopping center.

Next seven years - Country

• Experienced the time of my life in the countryside of western Washington
• 5 acre mini-farm
• Lots of work - built a barn, raised livestock, would do it all again
• Enjoyed the community and stay in touch with lots of people from this season of life

Next 6 years - Small Town

• Moved to small town America, not city and not country… kind of in-between
• Spent more time with people and less in the wild - partially due to work and partially due to choices
• Try to visit this community as often as practical

Following 4 years - Suburb/Inner City

• Went to school in Minneapolis suburb
• 9 months internship in the metropolis of Rayong Thailand
• Worked inner-city Minneapolis throughout the four years
• Busy season and miss the whole team of people we worked so closely with

Currently - fastest growing city in WA - Vancouver - Big City Wannabe

• Across the river is Portland - we can see the bridge from the living room window
• Country is not far away
• Find ourselves traveling a lot between all the above locations to connect, reconnect and be with friends and family.
• Taking a bit more time to put down roots at this time.

At the end of the day:
With what I would consider a diverse experience in living conditions and communities I have to say I like them all. Moving to the country was a dream come true at 15 years old. I loved every minute of those years ‘in the wild’. Stepping into the countryside of West Virginia brought back a lot of good memories from the mini-farm. It was a ton of work and loads of fun.

Looking forward (as culture tends to do) I wonder what surroundings and settings our adventure will lead us into. Currently we have what I consider the best of all the above considering the work and activity our family is all about. (Though four stories up makes it hard for the little people here to feel close to the earth - and I do plan to see that change when the time is right).

What’s ahead? Our ‘Druthers? How about CitCounSubTown? That may seem non-commital, and maybe that is the case? Do you have a case about which is better? What is it? Hopefully this writeup provides some entertainment if not education. But my take is that enjoying the beauty of earth God has created is part of being fully human.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 7:43 pm and is filed under incredible . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.