You know, as you age, you begin to see life more as a journey, and less a set of goals.  You still have goals, but you have more patience, and you understand that getting there is most of the fun.  My good friend lost her husband the other day, quite suddenly.  It was quite a shock.  Puts things in perspective.  Makes you realize that you need to cherish your family, and every day you have on this planet,  as tomorrow is promised to no one.  Sometimes it takes a sonic BOOM of an event to make you realize what is important.  For me, an event did occur which completely shook up everything I thought was in it's place, and was as it should be.  When it happened, I instantly began to change my priorities. 

Every day for me there is a little pleasure.  For me, pleasure comes in many forms.  Watching the sheep graze, settling down in the evening to read a book with my beloved cats, the boy kitty always coming to cuddle in the crook of my arm.  Even if  I sneeze, he may purr at the intrusion, but most of the time he just ignores it.  I saw a momma duck and her brand new ducklings crossing the road the other morning.  She never hurried when a car came, as she knew that she must keep their pace.  What a wonderful sight in the wee hours of the morning.

Yesterday, about fifteen Turkey Vultures were circling in John's field and we went out to see what was what.  No dead sheep or lambs, just some feathers from a dead bird.  These TVs were circling so low we could actually see the tops of their wings.  It was amazing. 

Those are the things that make life worth living for me.  It's not what I have at all; the livestock, the dogs, you name it.  It's not the size of my property, it's not what I am "called" be it a farmer, or dog lover, or whatever.  To me, home is where your heart is.  Some get so stuck on having more land, and more animals, that they forget why they got into it in the first place.  Every additional animal means less time is spent on the ones you have.  When you keep livestock, and in life in general, do one thing, get good at it, and then add another thing.  Never get so full with livestock that you become dulled to losing one here or there, and chalk it up to nature's way.  Yes, when you have livestock, you have dead stock, but never ever just accept it as the normal run of things; find out why, and do your best to make sure that it doesn't happen again.  Take pride in what you have.  Beam at it in fact.  That's when you are a true agrarian. 

The bottom line is, just live your life with pride and dignity.  If you have livestock, and animals, spend your money and time making sure that they are as happy and healthy as absolutely possible.  Go to bed at night, knowing they are such.  In your own travels every day, treat others as you would like to be treated.  Sometimes people can really irritate us, but everyone has a bad day, and the secret is to pick your battles and let things go.  Just let them go. 

Live your life; don't sweat the small stuff, and it's ALL small stuff.