Best Things in Life
"The best things in life aren't things."
When I was little, my parents and I spent time with my grandparents on their farm with electricity, but no running water. I remember helping to bring in a bucket of water from the well. I was only about half again the size of the bucket. It was all I could do to keep it from dragging on the ground. The door to the kitchen was on the opposite side of the house as the well. So I had to haul it around the house. The water sloshed so much that I could barely make it with half a bucket full by the time I got to the kitchen.
I remember those days with great fondness. In fact, the other day, I bought myself a metal cup from which to drink water because it takes me back to those days with the really, really cold well water.
I am grateful to my parents for the time I spent with my grandparents even without the "basic necessities". I never would consider that I was mistreated because I would have to go without an indoor toilet or a faucet of running water.
My mother sewed my clothes or ordered them out of the Sears, Roebuck catalog. I always felt I was dressed beautifully, and I never realized that our family didn't have as much money as some other families that could afford the best clothes that money could buy.
The lesson that I learned from my parents is that I don't need material things to be happy. It's the people that count. As long as I am around people I love and people I love are around me, I don't need running water, indoor plumbing, or store-bought clothes.
If I had the chance to go back to the farm and visit my grandparents again, even without the basic necessities, I'd go back without any hesitation. I get teary-eyed even thinking about it.
