Time has this strange way changing everything. It’s rarely sudden. And yet, one day you wake up and find out that everything is entirely different. You look back on how things were, comparing them to how they are, and it’s often hard to believe.
Just out of high school, I worked on the family farm. Mostly during harvest, but sometimes I’d help with harvest preparations. I did this at least three years in a row and I hated it. It was just the worst. I hated the hours. I hated the heat. I hated the allergies. I hated the machines. Everything.
Each year harvest got a little easier to endure, but no more enjoyable. It was a job and paid well, so I did it. Albeit begrudgingly.
One year, I was away at school so I didn’t work at all. I thought I’d lucked out. It was nice to avoid something I so disliked. Plus, school was enjoyable. I was learning skills I really wanted to have and I almost didn’t even think about harvest at all.
The following year, I worked harvest for a few days. I had a three-day weekend and decided to help out and make a little extra money. I discovered something then that I did not expect. Harvest was a welcome break. I work in retail and it was really nice to have a break from the constant social interaction. Slowing things down felt really nice…if only for a couple days.
Fast forward to this year. I asked my family if they could use an extra hand on the farm and they said they sure could. So I requested the time off, got approved, and realized something entirely unpredictable: I looked forward to harvest this year; the prospect excited me.
Never before have I been excited for harvest. But during a year where my mental and emotional health have really gone to shit, harvest has become the promise of break from all of that. I get to slow way down and experience the big sky and quiet life of Eastern Washington.
I write this now at the beginning of just over a week here at the farmhouse. It’s going to fly by because not only does time change everything, it accelerates exponentially every year you’re alive. Not long ago, I was here out of obligation and under protest. I sit here now happy to be here and not wishing to be anywhere else.
Perspective. It will not be stagnant. It changes with time and there’s nothing you can do about it.