I’ve been thinking a lot lately about other people. I know it’s a lost cause, trying to figure people out, but I keep plugging along hoping at some point I’ll stumble upon some epiphany. It hasn’t happened yet, but maybe someday…

What’s bugging me lately is the perception other people have about what we’re trying to do, how we live, how we raise our kids, etceterah etceterah…

Okay, and when I’m talking about people, it’s mostly my mother in law lol But it’s also some of my family as well. I really try not to dwell on it, but I hate people to get the wrong idea and run with it. That’s evidenced by my taking MY time to print out pages of studies/info about Downs to give to my mom’s friend who insists Lily has Downs because I didn’t get the Rhogam shot. So many things wrong with that, but the fact that I took MY time to try to show her the error of her ways when she’s just a small minded know it all…I really shouldn’t do that, I shouldn’t care so much about correcting misinformed people. But I do. Anyway…so these “people” seem to have the idea that we were forced into downsizing and that we really don’t want to live this way. UGH! We’ve been planning this for AGES. At least several years anyway lol. And yes, there have been some financial pitfalls along the way we hadn’t anticipated. But to think we just “had” to do this and we really don’t want to? Dumb. They don’t understand any of this. I love my brother, but I always get the idea talking to him that he doesn’t understand our choosing this in the least. They’re the polar opposites of us, so of course it’s to be expected that they don’t “get” it. They think, who would want to live on little money, in a small house, without a big savings account? They don’t get the fact that we’re trying to show our kids you don’t have to work all your life away in a job you don’t like just to pay for big things.

I’m not saying this is right for everyone, or that it’s perfection, but it’s something we CHOSE to do. Just like it was their choices that resulted in them working constantly, putting their kids in school and day care and living the way they live. I just hate being so in the minority that almost no one gets where we’re coming from or why we do what we do. I hate being looked down upon because we won’t just do things “like everyone else does”. It’s an uphill swim to be sure. And sometimes you just want to stop having to paddle so damned much.

We need to find a place that’s more hippie centric lol