roughing it

Yesterday afternoon I loaded the kids in the van to visit a farm with a group of farmers and wanna-be-farmers. The couple who own the land have 2 draft horses, 2 cows, 2 pigs, and a mess of chickens. We toured the pastures and asked lots of questions about fencing, manure, and pasture rotation before we headed back to the barnyard where most of my children had been playing in her toddler's sandbox and admiring the poultry.

As I stood chatting with the mom, Charlie came up, "Gotta go potty!"

"May we use your bathroom?" I asked her.

"Well, we don't have a bathroom, but the outhouse is right over there."

After I excused myself to help pop a little one on and off the seat and pull up his drawers, I admitted that I felt badly now about complaining of our future accommodations. "We will only have one bathroom next summer, and with 6-7 people..."

"We have only been living here for 5 months and it is already starting to get too small. I don't have room for a crib so the baby sleeps with us. I would love a moment during the day with no one pushing, grabbing, or spilling on me," she said.

While I know it would be cheaper and less wasteful to not have indoor hot water or a bathtub, I'm not the kind of girl who would be able to stand it for more than 2 days. Apparently my sister in law is the same. She refused to marry her true love until his log cabin in the woods became one with a flush toilet. After we drove home and the little ones were in the bath, I was never more glad that my love is also someone who appreciates the benefits of 19th century technology.