Every year I forget.

I think, when the cafe closes, life will slow down.  I’ll have time to work on my novel.  I’ll have time to work on the interview transcripts I have of Mom and Dad talking about how and why we’ve done things on the farm.  I’ll have time to rest.  I’ll have time to practice the bari.  I’ll have time to go cross country skiing.  I’ll have time to linger over cups of coffee down at the farm kitchen.

And then January comes.  And it’s time to analyze the numbers, to dig in and figure out how things have been going, and to figure out what needs attention on the farm, and then make the necessary changes.

And January comes, and both girls leave on a grand adventure….They received a chance to study clothing construction at So Harlem, hosted by our friends Anthony and Vivian Kurutz, our coffee roasters at Plowshares Coffee.

Kyle, our other employee on the farm, went out sick after the new year, which left Bob, me and Dad to cover the farm chores, on top of the January bookkeeping slog.  From December 24th until January 18th, we didn’t see a day off — chores twice each day, computer work in the hours in between, then more computer work through the night.   Then, thankfully, Kyle was well enough to step back in, and Bob and I climbed aboard a train to go see our girls down in the city.

We found them in the So Harlem designers’ studio, oblivious to the world, immersed in their fabrics and what they were learning from Henry, their teacher, chasing their passion.

In that moment,  I forgot about the long hours upstate.  To see that concentration and flow as they focused on something they loved was absolutely worth it.  We spent two days with them, then boarded the train to come home on Sunday.

And I couldn’t’ wait to get back — to visit the donkeys, collect the eggs, to help Dad breed two more pigs, to feed the sheep, take inventory at the Honor Store,  and get back to work at the computer, updating the online farm store.

No.  There hasn’t been as much time as I’d hoped for writing, skiing, playing music or cross country skiing.  At least not yet. But just like my girls, I have been in a state of flow, absorbed by the work, joyful to have these days with Bob and Mom and Dad, joyful for the labors that make my life full….even if, at times, it seems a little too full.