By Brandi Buzzard on February 20, 2024
Rancher Reflects on Cities, Country Life and Children
Why this Kansas rancher appreciates a slower way of life
As I write this post from the corner of our spare bedroom – not to be confused with a “corner office” – one of my daughters is lying on the bed reading and the other sits at my feet scribbling with crayons on a notepad I got at an agriculture conference. While I reflect on yet another tragic shooting in the United States, this time in my backyard at the Super Bowl parade for the back-to-back champion Kansas City Chiefs, all I can think about are my precious daughters and how thankful I am they were not at Union Station.
While I was not at the parade, I was in the KC area and had been planning on attending the parade, but for other reasons, was not in attendance. My heart goes out to the families who are forever marred, both physically and emotionally, by this heinous and cruel act. The mere thought of innocent children being exposed to an event this frightening has me mired in grief and anxiety.
It would be naïve and inaccurate of me to insinuate crime and cruelty only occur in metro areas – that’s just not true. However, the propensity for gun violence to occur in areas with larger populations is not lost on me and makes me ever thankful for our rural lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong – I love visiting cities and experiencing their culture, history, arts, sports and food – but I am always happy to turn down our gravel driveway toward home.
For better or worse, our ranch life shelters us from so much.
In place of skyscrapers and smog, we have clear blue skies and vast views of pastures and crop fields. We may not have mass public transit (which is unfortunate because I would love for someone to drive me around while I make phone calls and work on my to-do list), but we have gravel roads that are wonderful for walks with our daughters or early morning training runs.
The nearest science or children’s museum is about an hour away from our humble homestead; however, we have easy access to biology and science lessons every day on the ranch. Our daughters learn about animal health, plant science, gardening, food and the circle of life daily. Being able to witness those experiences through their eyes is a privilege I don’t take for granted.
Thankfully, we have a big backyard, barns, ponies and several acres of wooded areas and a creek for our girls to play in and explore. They may not have many playdates with the kids from the cul-de-sac, but they flex their creative muscles to fly to space on a rocket ship, explore the rainforest on a safari and build forts in the wilderness to keep boredom at bay.
Recency bias of tragedy is influencing my thoughts a bit, obviously, and next month I will return to my normal pattern of sarcasm. There are certainly benefits to living in cities, but today, I am thankful to be raising our girls where we can see the sun set all the way to the horizon and we can hear the frogs hollering from the creek.
Life moves a bit slower out here among the cows and the crops, and for that I am thankful.
