Does anything make you giddy from your toes?
Or maybe a better question is – do you get excited over things as an adult?
I’m not talking average, ho-hum “excitement.” I’m talking real, live, DELIGHT.
As a kid, it’s ok to jump, squeal and holler from the bottom of your toes to the top of your head. Not so as an adult.
That’s just weird – if anyone is watching. But should it be?
I’ve often mourned the change in my adult vs kid feelings. Kids burst outside with the first sign of snow – I just think it’s cold.
Kids stay up giddy with giggles thinking about cousins coming to town – I’m tired.
I don’t squeal over pizza parties (ok, maybe I still do, but not in the same way). But why?
What if we could? What if we made space for exuberation? Could adult squealing ever be ok?
Sadly, it’s often the opposite.
Cue the evening milking a few weeks ago with my friend Grace.As we talked about homesteading, I was expressing my excitement over my new cream separator with thrilling dreams of homemade ice cream, fresh butter, whipped cream, etc.
Grace completely agreed. She was excited with me, but then I did just about the silliest thing that I could have done.
I squashed our giddy fest by saying, “I’m such a nerd! Why would I get excited over something like a cream separator?!?”
Grace kindly affirmed that it was ok to be excited; but in hindsight, I wondered why I had been so silly to squash such a great thing.
When kids are excited, they aren’t worried about looking like nerds.
They go running straight out of the house, head tipped back with tongue out to catch the snowflakes.
I don’t run around the yard with my tongue out anymore…When did that become weird? Instead, to my horror, I apologize for getting too excited. Why?!
If Grace and I would have been 20 years younger, our conversation would have whooped into “playing house” where we “lived off the land” for the rest of the day.
What if we created space to do that as adults?
What if we allowed ourselves to get excited about things?
What would it take to be excited from the bottom of our toes to the top of our heads?
Could we get there?
We won’t know if we don’t try.
As Jason Jaggard says in his Spark book (which I highly recommend!), “You have to start somewhere, and starting always involves risk.”
Unfortunately, I’ve given risk a bad rap in my adult life. The older I get, the less risks I take. Think about it: when you’re a kid, you bounce off the ground if you fall.
When I fall now, I spend the rest of the day crying and telling the “you’ll NEVER believe what happened to me” story.
I think the same is true of appearances. What if we worried a little less about what others thought and allowed ourselves to get excited about things? Even if it was something “silly” like…whipping cream.
“Um… farmer lady…” Whipping cream is pretty basic. I don’t know that we should be looking foolish over whipping cream.
“Ok Debbie”… you go have fun with your downer.
“Have you ever waited 11 years for something, Debbie?”
Since 2011, we’ve owned cows, they’ve gotten milked two times a day, 365 days a year, (8,030 milkings) WITHOUT a way to separate cream. That should almost be illegal. (And that’s just my history! The farm is a lot older than me!)
If I can’t get excited after 11 years, I may not have a pulse.
“So, move over, Debbie.” Let’s make room for excitement.
Cue the whipping cream!
Maybe you haven’t waited 11 years for farm fresh whipping cream, but I know some of you have been waiting a good, sweet, long time for me to get a separator. I’ve been having such fun learning how to use it and I can’t wait to share it with you.
Here’s the first of many cream recipes that I have the privilege of sharing with you.
If you feel an excited tingle in your toes, just go with it. Let’s make space for giddy.
Meet your farmer – Liz Gerdes. She and her husband are local dairy farmers and friends to anyone who needs one. They empower moms to confidently feed their families nutrient-dense food using farm fresh milk! Visit gerdesfreshfarm.com or follow her on Facebook @gerdesfreshfarm or Instagram @gerdesliz for more info.
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