Repairs

We've been watching with fascination as a group of men make repair to the barn, across the field. They seem so at ease in such a high, steep place. Like ants marching along the peak of the roof, we watch their progress. And if we're lucky, when the wind is just right, from the North, we can hear bits of conversation and the thwack of a hammer as they chat and carry on with one another.

I've spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about how natural they seem as they go about their work, not giving a thought to being so high off the ground, not tethered to anything that might prevent disaster. Making steady progress in their task.

They're very capable and efficient. They make it look so easy as they perch on the roof. They're craftsmen and very good at their work.

I have found myself longing for that kind of sense of craft. To naturally go about a task and revel in the resulting detail... the steady progress... perhaps even making it look easy.

For this reason I'm considering, more than ever, the prospect of going back to school. It's been a nagging thought in the back of my mind for years. I've always had reasons for not doing it, and although I still have those reasons... three of them to be exact... the time feels right.

I haven't committed yet. But maybe... just maybe that will happen soon.

As for those craftsmen, they also just so happen to be Amish, which for some reason makes the way they work together seem different. Mysterious. It also makes me chuckle to wonder what they'd think about us watching them go about their work and how it's inspired an English girl (they refer to us as English... it's an us and them kind of thing...) to make a big change in her life.