Lost and Finding Joy

They say it’s the journey, not the destination, that really counts. I agree, but there is also some satisfaction in actually arriving at your destination, right? We’ve been dreaming of having a corn maze (or some type of business on the farm where people can come enjoy it) for many years. We started adding it to our vision boards the past 3 years or so. It seemed to be lining up for us, but not exactly as we would’ve planned. It usually never comes to us the way we think. When we look back on something we’ve accomplished, usually there are so many things that come together that we never would’ve thought of in our wildest dreams.

I want to start off by saying that, yes, we have enjoyed the journey so far and have had a lot of fun. We worked hard last year and invested a lot of time and money. We’d do it all over again because we enjoyed it so much. We planned to launch our corn maze at the end of this year, but now we find ourselves at a crossroad.

Things were really falling into place. For one, we inherited the land. The only problem was that it is 7 hours away from our home and family. We tried to find land closer to home, but to no avail. So, “out of the blue” here was this 16 acres just waiting for us to do something.

We talked about the pros and cons, but I believe that simply weighing the pros and cons isn’t enough. I tend to rely more on listening to my own intuition or following my gut on decisions like this. I also rely on Kevin’s ideas, intuition, and his feelings. We only do anything if we are both in agreement. We decided to go the next 500 feet.

Kevin’s good friend, who happens to own a contracting business, was available to help clear the land and build a road for our entrance. They also helped us with digging the trench for electrical connections and helped us install the sceptic tank. I believe the timing and our working together was nothing less than Divine connection.

Everything from our licenses and permits, to our purchasing the right equipment and installing a metal building, camper, and deck seemed to fall together seamlessly. There was a national shortage in plastics and other items along the way, but we always found what we needed.

We began working up the ground. We bush-hogged, plowed, disked, tilled, and land-planed. We planted grass seed, rolled, and fertilized the ground. We cut tree limbs, and lit and buried the burn piles. We had rice hulls delivered and dumped in places we didn’t want to erode. It all was coming together quite nicely.

The green grass grew through the winter and the land is absolutely beautiful with spring just around the corner. So what’s stopping us?

When we began visualizing this corn maze business, we wrote it down. We wrote details of what it looked like, and how it felt. We drew pictures of it, and we even meditated on it. We tested the dream with a 5-point test.

We are at a point now when it’s time to test the dream again to be sure we are on the right track and moving in the right direction. The way to test a dream, according to one of our mentors, Mary Morrissey, is to ask these 5 questions:

1. Does it give me more life?
2. Does it align with my core values?
3. Will it make me grow?
4. Does it require help from a higher power?
5. Does it have good in it for others?

I can honestly answer a resounding YES to every one of those questions, but one… #2 – Does it align with my core values? We realize that if we are going to launch this business this year, we still have quite a bit of work ahead of us. In fact, it will take the next 6 months to finish preparing the land, planting the corn and pumpkin crops, and getting additional items together to make it a fun family experience. I simply do not want to be away from my family for 6 straight months, at least not right now. It’s not a good time to be away from them for several reasons. My granddaughter will be 3 years old in a few days, and I have a lot of fun things planned for us to do together. I have a grandson on the way. He will be making his debut in August. I also want to be there with my family while things are becoming more and more unstable in our economy, etc.

So, this is where we are. I am not saying that we “can’t” do it. We are saying, “How can we?” Some of the ideas that we are discussing are simply to wait another year and just work on the farm and let it unfold without the pressure of a deadline. Kevin has an idea where we can still open this year, but in another form. It wouldn’t be the whole vision, but we could do a portion of it. I’ll let you know what that is and if we are going to move in that direction in a future post.

So, this is our crossroad. We will keep doing what we can, with what we have, where we are. I have no doubt whatsoever that we will be inspired when the time is right on what our next steps will be. In the meanwhile we are enjoying our journey and are grateful for every day; because as you know, every day is a precious gift and there is always — joy in the journey!