This is our final week in Texas and so there was no more putting off the drive. Josh went to class and the kids and I climbed into the truck for the ~2 hour drive to Waco, TX.
After an unscheduled quick stop at one of the numerous doughnut shops in Texas, our official first stop was the Waco Mammoth National Monument. Much like at Dinosaur State Park, the amazing thing about this site is the fact that the mammoth fossils are still in the ground, right where they were found. Part of the site has been excavated fully and the bones sent to different museums and research labs but another full section has been enclosed to protect the fragile bones from the elements and you are able to walk around an actual, active dig site. These mammoths are Columbia Mammoths, different from their Wooly cousins. They averaged 14 feet tall and 20 tons in weight (as opposed to 10 feet tall and 10 tons for the Woolys). This site in Waco is unique as it's the only site of a fossilized nursery group found so far. Mammoths would travel in nursery groups - adult females and their young - while the males would travel independently. There are over 23 individual mammoths that they have found so far - and there is likely more that hasn't been excavated yet. My mama heart felt a little sad, to be honest, looking at this group of fossils and realizing that at some point in history there was an event that caused the destruction of a group of mothers trying to protect their young. And then my heart broke even more with the realization that this has happened many times over throughout history with human mothers and children as well. (Oops, sorry for the downer of a rabbit trail.)
After the kids completed their Junior Ranger badge requirements we headed back to the truck for a snack before making our way to the Silos at Magnolia Market. The kids have yet to see an episode of Fixer Upper but that didn't matter at all when they saw the wiffle ball field and food truck court. My sister asked me what I thought of the place, as it is somewhere we've both wanted to visit. I told her it looked like someone had given a small town over to the imaginative control of a designer and told them to have fun. It is well laid out, inviting, intentional, beautiful, and a genuinely enjoyable atmosphere to be in.
I was recently asked my thoughts on living with less - especially now after having lived in a small space for several months. Truth is, I find myself still getting rid of things. For example, we started with three plates, bowls, and cups for each of us but after a month or two and realizing that we wash our dishes after every meal we minimized our inventory to just one plate, bowl and cup each. (Technically one plastic set for each of the kids and one Corelle set for each of us, including Josh and I.) What about when we have guests over? We usually use paper plates. On occasion friends have brought their own bowl or plate as RVers often offer to take their own dirty dishes home to wash themselves rather than adding to the workload of whoever hosted the meal. And even with those factors, we have shared more meals with people over the past five months than we did in the three years we were in our last house.
Currently I'm sitting at our kitchen/dining table, Madi is on the couch texting with a friend in SC, John is next to me playing with Legos, and Caden is outside riding his bike with a friend. And even sitting here I can see a dozen things that we don't need or use or have too many of. Sometimes I worry that I am clutterexic - or however you would best spell that made up word - and that we really don't have excess inventory, I just think we do. But honestly, it's not the case. Josh is my safety net when it comes to getting rid of stuff and even he agrees that we still have more we don't use or could do without.
The kids and I had a great time at Magnolia today without buying a single thing. Well, other than a pizza lunch and some mint fudge to bring home to Josh. :) I walked into Magnolia Market, breathed in the scented air, saw all the pretty things, and smiled. I didn't need any of it. Contentment is the most sweet smelling and beautiful thing I have ever experienced. There wasn't a single thing in that store that could have made me more happy or home feel more like home. And that's not to say those things don't exist! I have several of them here in the rig. I found just the right rug for our space and it makes the place feel warmer, lighter, and homey. (Plus it's machine washable - huzzah!) And I paid a few dollars extra for a napkin holder that fit the feel of our space more than the cheap plastic one. And it makes me happy when I see it.
This contentment came in small baby steps. I read back over my journals, look back over houses we've owned and conversations we've had. It didn't happen all at once. Slowly, often invisibly, contentment filled the spaces where stuff used to be. Every empty drawer or cabinet seemed to fill up with peace. This is true for our physical space and equally so for my mental and emotional cabinets and drawers as well.
I walked into a store perfectly curated for me and I walked back out with nothing in my hands and everything I could possibly need.
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