Decisions, Decisions

It has been a rough couple of weeks.  For reasons that will be revealed later (oh mysterious!), and for the obvious ones, we recently decided on a name for our little piece of this Earth.  And it was a nightmare!  I know that it made me a little (LOT) crazy and my poor husband; I drove him nuts.  Well, I mean, more than I usually do.  We had casually been kicking around the idea of naming our place for a while, but it didn’t seem pressing until the last few weeks.  Again for reasons that will be discussed later; can’t tell you now, I might jinx it.  But the place needed a name, and thus, the debate began.  Honestly, as long as I didn’t name the place “Cutie Patootie Chicken Derrieres Acres”, my husband wouldn’t care too much what name we came up with.  He felt that the right name would present itself when the time was right, no need to rush things.  I, on the other hand, went with the more logical approach which was, “What the crap are we gonna do????  It needs a name, like, yesterday!!!”  Insert overly dramatic swoon here.  It went on like this for a week or more.  Hubby:  “What would you like for dinner?”,  Me:  “What about naming it after an old timey saloon?  Oh! The Drunken Rooster!”

Hubby:  “Do you need anything from the store babe?”  Me:  “Or a scary name, as a joke, like in a movie or something.  That’s good, right?”

It went on like this, and it got worse.

Text from hubby:  “I think I nicked an artery working in the shop.  I’m calling 911”  Me:  “We could name it after our favorite superhero.”

Name it after a place we both like?  After a favorite video game location?  Steal the name of a farm or homestead we saw somewhere?  Do we name it using attributes of the current property and change it later when we move?  And go through all this again?  Or name it once and take it with us?  How about “Damnit Cats! Acres?  Or BadRabbitStopThat Farm?  What about ThereIsNoHopeWeWillNeverGetItNamed Homestead?  Hopeless Homestead?  I Give Up Acres?  I Hate This Place Farm?  There has to be something out there that we like.

In a resigned kind of way, I Googled it.  Of course I did, what did you think, I am just that smart?  I wish.  Those two weeks would have been so much easier on my mental health.  So I caved and Googled “what the hell do I name my farm?”  That is the honest to goodness, obviously frustrated almost in tears search parameter I typed in.  And the internet saved the day.  I looked through posts that others had made about how they named their places, which were all the questions I had already been through.  But I finally came across something that made my face meet my desk in such a magnificent fashion, I saw stars for a week.  Initials.  Really?  I mean, seriously interwebs??  I have lost my damn mind, made my husband question why he ever agreed to marry this psycho in the first place much less start a farm with her and that is what you come up with?  INITIALS????  Brilliant!!  Why am I so stupid?  How could I have missed it all this time??  I began to question whether I was even intelligent enough to function in society, much less hold down a job and have responsibilities.  Good gracious sakes alive, how could I have overlooked initials?  I am a consumer of old westerns and sci-fi TV shows based on old westerns.  I was almost embarrassed as I texted my frazzled and potentially bleeding husband, “What do you think about T&E Acres?”  I chewed my nails waiting for him to answer.  The phone pinged.  My stomach did backflips.  The moment of truth.  He loved it.  Eureka!!  We have a winner!  And honestly, it was perfect, not because it was simple, which it is, but because this farming, gardening, homesteading, blacksmithing, canning, eating, growing adventure is us.  It started with us.  It encompasses us.  The name was perfect because the piece of land we were trying to name isn’t what it’s about; it’s about this grand experiment we embarked on together.  It’s the central location, it’s home base, it’s our sanctuary from the stress of the world.  It is wherever we are together and this farm and shop and business are us because we decided to do these things together.  So here we are, coffee cups in hand, looking at our backyard and planning next springs’ garden.  In 25 years, we will be sipping coffee, looking out over our acres of farm and forest and life, and planning the next springs garden.  T&E Acres was born and it will always represent the way we live rather than a particular place.