Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow!
Kelly here, with the latest from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.
What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you can say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
When I read this growing up, what I heard was that I had permission, from God no less, to not worry about picking a career. Or having a plan.
I have always loved chaos. I have always loved living off the cuff. I’ve done most of my traveling on impromptu whims… and most of my dating, too. I prefer to travel light in life to allow for switching plans and paths easily and often. That’s why I spent so much time bartending after I left corporate America; it allows for fluidity. Friends going to a concert across the country? All I have to do is switch all my shifts with other people. In fact, at the brew house, there was basically a standing pact that you have to take a shift if someone else gets offered Cardinals tickets. There was one season when I got to go to more games than I missed! And if the risk was worth the reward, I could always just find another bar to work at.
When I found out I was pregnant, I pulled out my cutesy-stickered planner that I always had, but barely used. My schedule quickly began filling up with medical appointments. I had goals; I worked more hours to start to save for the first time in my life. I had to-do lists drawn up everywhere. Once I even spent a whole sleepless night scribbling, forming a strategy to rear a perfect kid. Once I had Colt in my arms, my meticulous planning ebbed in lieu of staring into two beautiful blue eyes.
When I got to Dancing Rabbit, I resisted schedules and emails at first, as I’ve noticed a lot of new people do. Who comes to an intentional community to be bogged down by the calendar? But there are so many activities here that I wanted to be involved in that soon I gave up my hardcopy planner to fill up my much-handier digital scheduler app.
Once you’re here long enough you start to hear about upcoming weather conditions. It tickled me when I realized that, here, conversations about the weather are not merely small talk; it’s us watching out for each other and making sure we are prepared.
Right now we are having conversations around making sure everyone has enough wood for the winter. We are talking about programs and plantings in the spring. I used to laugh at the idea of people having their five- and ten-year plans lined out but now I am serious when I say that bringing draft horses to the village is in my four to 12-year plan. Parents at the village have started a homeschooling co-op, including a forest school. We are talking about a new playground.
Last winter when Colt insisted we follow our friend Alister all around the village to watch him plow snow in the tractor, I realized in that moment that we will have to live here long enough, at least, for Colt to learn to drive on a tractor. I can picture myself growing old here… God willing.
Kelly Brandt is house manager for a DR building called Skyhouse, which can house six residents. She organizes many DR social events. She is mother to Colt, one of the many adorable kids that live at DR.