Time and Hard Work
We went to Toppenish for our annual family reunion last weekend. And our annual visit with Sarah and Dan of Heirloom Cattle Company. Clicking through photos on the way home, poor Yancey was subject to my unending commentary--wondering about family dynamics, conjecturing about the past and future. If you had been listening in, here's a couple themes you might have heard:
1) Time doesn't stop. For the trillioneth time, I wandered through my grandmother's house. It's exactly the same as it's been for 60+ years, yet so different now that my grandfather is gone and she is fading into dymentia. The back door onto the screen porch, the Roseville pottery on the mantle, the piano room with all the old photos lining the walls. We are all getting older, all progressing toward the next life and doing our best in this one. And in spite of many grim realities--in the world and in just this one family--cousins are still having babies, aunts and uncles are going back to school or taking up new hobbies. And all those young, idealistic people on the photo wall? That was real, too.
2) Hard work is more important than passion. Sarah and Dan run a non-profit called the Suriname Indigenous Health Fund. They are helping indigenous groups in Suriname's interior whose health and way of life is threatened by mining waste from multinational companies. And on the side, they parent, teach at colleges, and own and operate an organic cattle ranch. Sarah says, "Every day, I just get up and pray that I'll do the best job I can. It's not about passion anymore. It's just about getting the work done." I suppose some Oprah followers might think that's sad--the "Follow your passion, and the money will follow" subscribers. I'm thinking a mantra with more integrity might be, "Live your values, work hard, and someday you might see the fruits of your labor." The lesson for me here is to stop worrying about doing everything right (or whether I'm the right person for the job) and just get busy, learning along the way. Meg Wheatley's definition of a leader is "anyone willing to help." None of us are off the hook.
3) I purchased heirloom tomatoes for $1.29/lb at a roadside stand between Toppenish and Yakima where customers were pulling field-ripe tomatoes right off the conveyor belt. Not this $4.99 business one is wont to see in Seattle. They're in a bowl next to me as I type. Nothing to do with these except slice them, drizzle a little olive oil and salt, and savor the last bits of summer warmth.
September 20, 2010
Reader Comments (11)
well, isn't that a bit to think about then... hard work, not passion. i guess we can be extraordinarily lucky if the two collide. the photographs you posted are GORGEOUS! i especially love the barbed wire.
"Live your values, work hard, and someday you might see the fruits of your labor. The lesson for me here is to stop worrying about doing everything right (or whether I’m the right person for the job) and just get busy, learning along the way."
After reading this I said, "Amen" aloud. I'm definitely one for passion and loving what I do, which makes it hard sometimes being at home with two little girls all day. A blessing yes, but hard & sometimes monotonous. But, I've been reflecting a lot on living in this current day I'm blessed with and embracing all of it. Not worrying about whether Veronica will ever not have to braces, or her delays cause her learning to be even more difficult, or loosing those extra pounds, or if my family is eating healthy enough...
The future is a mystery & my past is already written, but today, I know today and have the opportunity to seize it. I think that's all we need to do, just like you eating those heirlooms with no frills, embracing the last bit of warmth!
I agree with Bethany, that picture you took of the barbed wire is gorgeous! Really, really beautiful. Nice eye and execution.
I give thanks that we all seem to be getting the messages we need when we need them. I agree with your translation (live your values, etc) and I give thanks that your passions brought both of you Sarahs to just where you are right now where the hard work is needed and you're both diving in.
Love you.
(Nice rounded corners on the pictures.)
What a beautiful devotion to reflect on before I go to bed. Thanks for letting us inside your head and your heart. I always benefit from hearing what comes from the deepest part of your soul.
and.....ditto on the great photography!
Grim realities, like menacing barbed wire, are softened by roundy hills and wispy clouds - cousins having babies.
Such a wave of nostalgia hit as I read this post! My maternal grandparents were fruit growers in the Yakima Valley, and I spent wonderful childhood summers there. Thank you again, Sarah, for speaking to us in many layers. On a lighter note, should you find yourself missing Beloved Bellingham, tune into "You Tube- Bellingham State of Mind." It's fun!
you've got one heckuva handle on life there.
Sarah- I want you to know that I come back to read your words of wisdom more than your recipes, so thank you for this. That being said I love your recipes, I am just not the talented cook in the family so I get to appreciate what you say about food from a under-educated, under-experienced, so not talented in the kitchen perspective. So keep the tid-bits coming because I am eating them up! :)
Sarah, I've been thinking about this post on and off these last few days. I love what you said, “Live your values, work hard, and someday you might see the fruits of your labor.” It feels like what I do in a couple different parts of my life - both work and political - and it feels like it matters just to understand the very basic quality of that. And to appreciate that there is a quiet satisfaction in it even when it doesn't move mountains.
As you know, I'm quite political and it has been a shock to see what seems like whacky candidates and positions triumphing lately. I find myself sitting around talking with people lately, and hearing person after person say that what we've learned in these last 20 months is just how bad it is. That was covered up for awhile in an odd way because we thought it was just that particular administration. So many of us worked hard to make changes in the last election and yo, it's still bad. What, no magic bullet? What it really comes down to, and most of us are reluctant to accept it, is just what you are saying in other or maybe related realms. It is just going to take a lot of persistence and hard work and it will be a long time before we see the kind of results we thought we'd see with one election. But it still needs to be done, no matter how much we wish it didn't.
Thanks, as always, for pulling together this great community. And for the recipes. I made the roasted veggie lasagna yesterday and it got rave reviews.
Do you ever know how to reach right out and TOUCH people, Sarah! Amen, amen, and AMEN! I am in total agreement with your readers and your friend Lynn, and am living in the daily reality that it's going to take all the time it's going to take-----but our grandchildren and our great-great-great grandchildren deserve that kind of dedicated hard work-----and none of us means just our own biological offspring, at all! We need to be the people who will slog along, living with as much integrity as we can muster on an hourly basis, knowing that this world needs that nurturing, love, and honesty. And celebrating whatever is good, spreading the word. MUCH LOVE.
Hi Sarah! I'm stopping by to say hello because I recently discovered that one of my dearest childhood friends - Kelsey Jones-Casey - knows you, and we were chatting about your blog a bit while we were both home in northern Minnesota for a friend's wedding. You two are such lucky women to know each other and to live in the same state. It makes me quite jealous - as much as the Midwest is home, the Pacific Northwest frequently calls my name in a rather plaintive tone :) (and right now I'm stuck out East which is great overall but at times feels like adding insult to injury!). Anyway, it was so lovely to come and read your reflections, glowing there sagely at the top of the page. I've been feeling the passage of time very strongly lately, trying to come to terms with it, and realizing that I may in fact never come to terms with it, but that that is no excuse for not muddling along doing my very best with each moment I do have. And feeding my loved ones as well as possible. You're a wonderful example and I look forward to reading lots more of your insight and your humor.