Our Roots

A large, black and white photo hangs in my laundry room. The photo is a window into another life that contrasts mine. Originally captured by my aunt using black and white film and developed in a dark room, it is now just black ink printed on white canvas; but in 1975, that moment frozen inside the camera,

moved like the backyard breeze of that day,

two people drawing in breath,

smiling peacefully, and taking a well-deserved pause from the hard day’s

good work. 

A middle-aged woman sits on the edge of the picnic table, hands in her lap,

eyes closed, soaking in the warm, spring sunlight.

The love of her life reclines behind her on the lengths of lumber he had crafted into this pine picnic table with his own hands.

He has pulled his hat down and perched it over his eyes, providing relief from the bright afternoon sun, who’s warmth lured them to that restful spot in the first place. 

I’ve seen them in these same outfits my whole life: the man in work boots, blue jeans, a flannel shirt, and a vest…and the woman, in modest work jeans and a thin sweater, no makeup, and her only adornment: a head scarf. 

Some may look at this photo and criticize,

“You can’t even see the man’s face,” they may judge.

“Ah, yes,” I assert, “but do you see his hand?” 

In the moments before film stopped time, the farmer had reached out and held his wife’s arm.

That touch, that embrace of his tan hand, strong from work…

good work…

is a testimony of the love they shared, the work and life they lived, the connection they had with each other, with their family, and with their land. 

The couple in the photo is my paternal grandparents, affectionately, my MawMaw and my PawPaw.

These two embraced the values, core beliefs, and work ethic they learned from their parents in the 1920’s and 30’s and lived them out in front of me in the 70’s and 80’s.

I have not, regrettably, done the same.

When I left the farm to go to college, I became a product of modernity. I bought into the marketing schemes of all things new, convenient, and fashionable. Lulled to sleep by the world and its lure of comfort, ease, and distractions-on-screens, I was unknowingly sedated into a lazy numbness, killing any desire to do any of the good work I should be doing. 

Recently, during my morning time with the Lord,

I read how nineteenth century preacher, Charles Spurgeon, asserted: “each of us will have to give an account of our stewardship regarding our time, our talents, our substance, and our influence.” 

That statement, among other things the last few years, challenged me to

wake up, smell the coffee, and turn this ship around.

Turn it back, even if it is into the wind, and

reclaim the life that I grew up in,

fight for its simplicity, for a connection with the land and the food it produces, and to embrace the good work that gives back health and energy. 

In 2017, a sweet friend of mine was granted a trip to Ikaria, Greece through her job with  Purdue Extension, to experience a Blue Zone.

She had to explain to me what a Blue Zone even was:

five zones have been pinpointed on the globe where the

people live to 100

because of their similar lifestyles of 

a sense of purpose,

eating from the land, 

natural movement, 

and connecting with people. 

I thought to myself, “Purdue doesn’t know it, but they have a Blue Zone right across the river. If they would just look south, they would see a blue beam of light shining down on my grandparent’s farm. 

On their little patch of acres, they were living a blue zone life: they worked and ate from their garden, they moved naturally every 20 minutes or so, they had a sense of purpose, they placed a very high value on family connection,

and yes, as a product of this lifestyle,

my Paw Paw lived well into 101 years.

Today, as I fold one son’s Wrangler jeans, and another’s track jersey, I peer into the window of their photo and remember those days when life felt

simple, old-fashioned, good…

It challenges me, and I hope you, too, that

good work is a good use of time,

that it makes us healthy, grounded, and gives an opportunity for connection with people, connection with God, and connection with the soil from which we are made and will return.

The couple in the photo have both gone to live with the Lord, 

–—-and how my heart hurts for them—- 

but they left pieces of themselves and their Blue Zone lifestyle behind.

Their children, my dad and his sisters, have inherited the lifestyle and are a living example to us …

to live a simple life,

to eat what your own hands have produced and preserved,

to do good work.

It is our desire to move,

doing the work of the season and eat what’s in season,

to connect with real live people,

to take responsibility for our family’s health,

to honor the Lord with our time, our resources, our sustenance,

and our influence

and to invite others to do the same.  I have not attained it yet, but this is what I dream about, plan for, and spend each day doing good work towards.