A Simple Kind Of Lovin'

One night driving home from a shopping trip with my mom I asked her if she could have one thing in her life what would it be. After moment of thought she responded with "a simpler life." After a few moments of panic, because that was my answer too, I slowly realized I was becoming my mother.
I want to be able to make quilts for my children, to sew their Halloween costumes and make a family dinner every night. I don't want to live in a cookie cutter house, and have to drive an hour to and from work, and I want everything to always be a hundred percent honest. And the last statement is where this simpler life style is lost. We are all so worried about being politically correct, about not hurting someone, but as my mom pointed out to me while I was home a few weekends ago, by lying we are only hurting ourselves.
I want to go camping, and read for pleasure. To spend a day in bed with the windows open listening to the rain instead of running from class to class. I want to rake leaves and bake banana bread, I want a constant stream of country music to be playing from a radio in my house. I want large family get togethers, and a nightly glass of wine. I want a dog and a truck and an ice cold beer, and to fly kites and play with chalk.
I don't need five TVs, I don't need an iPhone or the latest car. We get so caught up in being caught up that we forget the important things in life. We don't remember that test we failed, or the paper we forgot to write freshman year. You can't plan life. Life is what happens while you are planning.