Picking the Story Back Up

Fifteen years ago, I started a little blog called Modern Farm Wife.

Social media was changing quickly, and so was the way people got their information. Articles about agriculture were being shared faster than ever, and unfortunately, so was misinformation. I remember feeling frustrated watching people who had never stepped foot on a farm tell consumers what was happening on one.

I knew I couldn't speak for every farmer or every farm.

But I could tell our story.

So that's what I did.

I wrote about our farm, our family and agriculture from where I stood—as a farmer's wife actually living it. I wanted people to see the real side of farming and maybe understand a little more about where their food came from and the families behind it.

There wasn't a content calendar or a brand strategy. I wasn't trying to become an influencer.

I'm pretty sure we weren't even calling people influencers yet.

I just had stories I thought were worth telling.

And I loved telling them.

Then I stopped.

The Part I Didn't Plan

I wish I could tell you I stopped blogging because life got busy.

The truth is more complicated.

I had an elective surgery that I believed would “improve” my life.

Instead, I had a complication.

It affected me physically, but it also affected my mental status. My life changed in ways I never expected when I made the decision to have that surgery. Four years later, I would eventually undergo reconstructive surgery because of the very thing that was supposed to make life better.

There is a whole lot of story tucked inside that little paragraph.

Maybe one day I'll tell more of it.

For now, I'll just say that the woman who had been sitting down at a computer telling farm stories suddenly had something very different to navigate.

And somewhere in there, I stopped writing.

The writing stopped. The story didn't.

Fifteen Years Is a Lot of Life

Goodness, a lot can happen in fifteen years.

I went back to school and earned my bachelor's degree in Business Administration.

I became a certified teacher.

And eventually, I found myself teaching school during COVID—which deserves an entire blog post of its own. Maybe several.

Then, in 2021, I bought a business.

One business brought another opportunity. One idea turned into another idea. If you know me personally, you're probably laughing right now because you know that's pretty much how things go around here.

There have been businesses and classrooms. Daycare days and gymnastics meets. Agriculture and chickens. Community projects. Kids growing up. House projects. Trips. Big plans. Plans that worked. Plans that absolutely did not.

There have been some wonderful chapters.

But those fifteen years can't be measured by degrees, careers, businesses or accomplishments.

Some of the biggest changes in me came through loss.

I lost my precious in-laws.

I lost my Papa.

We've lost several other family members along the way, too.

There are people I would give just about anything to sit beside one more time. People whose voices I can still hear. Stories I've heard a hundred times that I'd happily sit through for the hundred-and-first.

Loss has a funny way of rearranging what's important.

So does getting older.

So does raising children and suddenly realizing they're not going to stay little just because you'd like them to.

And somewhere through all of this, I reconnected with the Lord.

Maybe reconnected isn't even the right word.

Because He hadn't gone anywhere.

I had.....

Things Look Smaller From Here

I'm 41 now.

I'm not ancient—although I'm sure my children would disagree—but I'm old enough to see life differently than I did when I started Modern Farm Wife.

Things look smaller now.

Things I once thought were enormous don't seem nearly as big. Things I worried about, people's opinions, plans that didn't work out, things I thought absolutely had to happen a certain way...

A lot of it just doesn't carry the weight it once did.

And strangely enough, the little things have gotten bigger.

Sitting around a table.

An ordinary afternoon.

A conversation with someone you love.

Watching your children become their own people.

A familiar dirt road.

Laughing until you cry.

Going somewhere you've never been.

A story someone tells that you don't realize you'll miss hearing until they're no longer here to tell it.

Scripture tells us that our life is a vapor.

Here for a little while and then gone.

I've heard that verse most of my life.

I understand it differently now.

And that realization hasn't made me want to do less.

It's made me want to notice more.

Maybe That's Why I'm Here Again

For years, I've thought about writing again.

I've thought about that old Modern Farm Wife blog and the girl who sat down at her computer because she believed our story was worth telling.

I still believe that.

Agriculture will always be part of my story. Perryland will always be part of our family's story.

But I'm not the same woman who started that blog fifteen years ago.

My world has gotten bigger.

There are people I want you to meet.

Places I want to show you.

There are stories from our farm and our businesses. Stories about family and motherhood. Stories from our little town. Stories from places I travel and things I'm involved in.

There will probably be stories about projects I dreamed up that sounded much better in my head.

Actually, you can probably count on those.

There are old stories I don't want to forget and new ones we haven't lived yet.

And I don't want to wait another fifteen years to write them down.

That's how I ended up here.

Beyond Perryland.

I'm not starting this blog because I've figured life out.

Lord knows I haven't.

I'm not here to tell anybody how they should live theirs.

I'm just a woman who has lived enough life now to realize how quickly it all goes—and how many good stories are hidden inside days that seem completely ordinary while we're living them.

Fifteen years ago, I started telling stories because I wanted people to see beyond what they were being told about agriculture and get a glimpse of the people actually living it.

Maybe I'm not so far from that girl after all.

I'm still telling stories.

There are just more of them now.

So I'm not starting over.

I'm picking the story back up.

I have absolutely no idea where this is going to take us.

But I have a feeling that's going to be part of the fun.

Welcome to Beyond Perryland.

Stories from here, there & everywhere in between.

— LaDonna