A Day in the Life of a Happy Atchison Countian

• 7 a.m.:  Fall out of bed, not entirely happily. UNLESS it is like one of our recent gift days where I walk outside and say, AHHHHHH.
• 7:30 a.m.:  Feed kitties, who come running from various fields nearby when they hear the food hit the tin.
• 8:00 a.m.:  Depart for the office. Drive 35-40 mph all the way to town just because I can. Examine crops during leisurely drive. Wave to cows. Watch hopefully for a farm implement. Dodge a deer on Route B, something that’s possible when traveling at such Sunday Drive speeds. Relish the fact that I am the only person on the road. Check out lunch special on board outside of Food Country, checking specifically for inadvertently humorous phraseology or something baby in belly might be interested in that day.
• 8:30 a.m.: Arrive at office. Good Morning to Cara. Check email. Read Jerry Baker’s Thought of the Day. Delete junk. Check task list. Get to work.
• 10:30 a.m.: Meet with the ever-kind Representative Thomson (aka Mike) to gain outsider-perspective on our primary interstate exit (improving this is a current personal mission).  
• 12:00 p.m.: Listen for bizarro siren-honk noise Dad’s cop truck makes when he announces his arrival at back door. Head to Subway, where vegetable gal gives me extra pickles (she has quickly assessed that I need them). Porta-picnic commences. Ride around the county for a while, check out progress on wholesale water project, learn lots of random County tidbits. 
• 1:00 p.m.: Back to work. Try to decide which task (if any) can actually be checked off list. Research communities that do a great job of attracting their youth back home (another personal mission). Try not to become overwhelmed by number of personal missions.
• 2:30 p.m.: Fun lady shows up who wants to start a nonprofit in the county. Provide every bit of information that might possibly be helpful. Feel hopeful and happy as I do every time folks are excited to get something started here.
• 3:00 p.m.: Zip out to McD’s for the occasional small latte (don’t judge, I add extra milk and it’s the only caffeine Jack ever gets) and make the difficult decision NOT to order apple pie (which Jack and I both really, really want). Back to office.
• 4:45 p.m.: Head home via Tarkio, gotta go to Flower Mill to make copies of some photos and see what apple candles I can find. Have lovely chats with Betsy and Mary Ann. Appreciate that we have such a store in the county…and, more importantly, that we have Mary Anns and Betsys in the county.
• 5:15 p.m.: Stop by Mom’s on the way up Main Street to see if anything exciting is going on there. Talk baby stuff. Show her some short people pics on Facebook. No night meeting tonight (yay!!), head home to hubby.
• 5:45 p.m.: Arrive home after traveling amongst corn and bean fields and feel almost overwhelmed (as I do most days) that I get to live in this big old beautiful farmhouse. Greeted by kitties and hubby.
• 6:15 p.m.: Eat something totally uninspired. BUT enjoy some garden-fresh tomatoes on the side (delivered to our door by nice gardner-landlord).  Nothing better than a tomato grown around here.
• 6:45 p.m.: Haven’t taken a belly shot for a while, so head outside to take care of this task.  Stand in the yard, looking around…thankful, thankful, thankful.
• 7:15 p.m.: Hubby and I sit in our dueling recliners. He flips channels, I write out a couple of cards. Kicked back, Jack starts his mostly-nightly show of ricocheting all around my stomach.  We giggle and grin and bask in the awesomeness of this moment that never, ever gets old.
• 9:30 p.m.: Head to bed, knowing that I’ll be up 3-400 times in the night so might as well crash early.  Listen to the sounds of the country…coyotes, the whoosh-whoosh of the turbine blades across the road, and the otherwise quiet of the night.  Reflect on the day, hoping I contributed something to this place I love so much, pray for an opportunity to make life a little better here tomorrow.

 ~MMB