Get Out of Debt - Part 5

Before I delve into Dave Ramsey's baby steps one and two as promised last week, I wanted to share a revelation I discovered late last night while my overly taxed brain recovered from four consecutive days of piecing together the broken shards of our computer dependent life.

So why get out of debt?

I mean really?

If life is generally running along perfectly smooth where even a few pumps of debt can't derail it, then why am I putting myself through this slow and tedious self deprivation lifestyle?


Sure there is the obvious point of wanting to maintain the sanctity of my marriage and of course my overt disdain for divorce court plays along with that.  And one could also argue it is because of the poignantly correct and undeniable reasons Dave Ramsey so boldly points out time and again.  But are these the real motives behind my decision to jump aboard this debt-free bandwagon or are they merely the added benefit like a gift with purchase at Macy's makeup counter?

So here was my epiphany.

I have this undisbutable, almost visceral instinctive need to reconnect with the self proclaimed hippie-chick who entered my reality at about the same moment my mother (God bless her anesthetically induced delivery) gave birth to me forty-three years ago this past June.

You know her.  Sometimes I've seen her in the faces of little pigtailed girls called Lulu or Zoey, her feet are always bare and her simple cotton dress dusted with dirt, a badge worn proudly from a day lived chasing butterflies and hunting for fairies.

I realized I've chosen this path so I no longer have to worry about Home Owners Associations, restrictive covenants or whether or not my car is pulled too far onto the sidewalk.  I'd rather be wandering down a dirt road, my dog by my side, as the heat of the rising sun evaporates away the early morning dew.

Can you smell the crisp freshness in the air?

And I want to see and smell flowers.  Lots and lots of flowers. All day everyday! Planted all around me. In the garden, arranged in beds around the house, hanging from the veranda and climbing up trellises.  I especially want to see pink flowers of every shade.

I want to hide away for a day in an eclectically built tree house with my son, dining on a picnic of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, while he shares with me all the wonders and enchanting adventures of his perfect little world.  We'll laugh a lot and dream a lot and time will stand still.

I want an organic garden again.  One overflowing with the bounty of nature's colorful treasures.  I want to pluck strawberries right off the plant and taste their succulant sweetness. I want to carry an apron full of garden fresh ingredients back to our house then set about chopping and slicing to prepare a supper for my family.  One created by God and served with love.  I can almost smell the freshly baked bread and fragrant herbs as they fill the heart of the home.

I want to take a bath with a window wide open so I can feel the warmth of the sun on my wet skin and listen to the birds as they serenade.

I want to curl up on a front porch swing in the late afternoon of an Indian summer, swaying gently as I sip on a refreshing iced tea watching the gentle play between my two most favorite guy in all the whole world.  I want  listen to their laughter as they do that male bonding thing we woman don't quite get but understand and respect none-the-less.

Yes, I stick to this get out of debt thing not because anyone is making me, for trust me when I say no one has ever or will ever make this hippie-chick do anything she doesn't want to do.  And it's not because I can then start to accumulate shiny new things as a temporary fix to prop up a deflated self-esteem.

I do this for the moment in time when I can lounge below a starry sky, snuggled close to the only man who has ever truely known me and still chose to love me, while we watch our son catching fireflies beyond the warm flicker of our campfire.  The leaves will whistle a gentle tune in the darkness as a slow southern breeze passes through to say hello.  Lilac flowers will grace us with the benevolence of their delicate scent and a hoot owl will signal his approval.  At that very moment in my husbands secure arms and the eyes of my son I will never, ever have to wonder why I sacrificed for such a very small while to have a wealth beyond all of King Solomn's riches.

I sacrifice not.  But instead I choose to get out of debt so I can live my dream life instead of just being someone who only got to write about it.

Okay, after that you're going to have to wait for next week to hear about baby steps one and two, for to do otherwise after that post just wouldn't be prudent.

Click here to move on to "Get Out of Debt - Part 6."

Live a delicous life my dear readers,  Jamie