Reality? hmmm. I usually feel like I am in a parallel universe.

I am grateful for the life I live, and most grateful for the gift that I can change, even if I never thought change possible. I am most grateful for those whom I share this life with, you.

Nahko Bear says it well:

“I will do things I’ve never done before
‘Cause I’m powerful and I’m not afraid no more!

I feel God in the slightest wind
At the rate I manifest,
Every dream deepens
And I know I never want to stay the same
Yeah I know I never want to stay the same”

I am waxing poetic because there was a question posted this evening on the only social media I am a part of, a milk cow forum. The question was posted by a friend who will be giving a class at her local health food store as an introduction to having a family cow.

She posed these questions: (here is the thread, for those interested in the cow forum)

1. Looking back to your pre-cow life, what would you say are some of the most important things to know about owning a milk cow before deciding to buy a cow?

2. What are some key factors that made you decide to buy a cow and what are some of the best and/or hardest lessons you had to learn?

My answer was this:

“Well, honestly, the fact that life as you know it will be over, completely over.

The first milk cow(s) you buy will be such an unknown, even if you and yours know cows. You will constantly look back to “what I could have, should have done” and you will constantly strive to learn more and more. When you face the death of a milk cow(s) you will be so utterly shaken to the core, that your core will change. You will change so much that you will be able to see life, and death, in a completely different way, and you will be empowered.

When you witness the birth of your new calf, you will be delighted beyond words, and you will find yourself constantly in the barn, drinking in the beauty of their eyes.

When you savor your first drink of fresh colostrum, your first glass of fresh raw milk; make your first butter, kefir, sour cream, cheese… you will be forever ruined. Ruined to the bland, the poisoned, the inferior, the pasteurized and homogenized. Your health and the health of your family will drastically change. Life is good.

You will be so forever changed that you cannot and will no longer participate in the commercial, industrial production of dairy products, now that you know the truth of the torture, pain and suffering of these dear creatures in factory farms.

You are now the caregiver of those who give such life giving milk, that life as you once knew it, is over. You are in love, and there is no going back.”

Of course that is not all, by a long shot.

Words cannot truly describe this relationship with a milk cow… but there is more, much more.

The true magic is with milk cow owners.

Raw milk lovers.

Passionate people who want to go back to the land, and reject things they thought were true, and later found out different.

People who give themselves permission to change:

“I feel God in the slightest wind
At the rate I manifest,
Every dream deepens
And I know I never want to stay the same
Yeah I know I never want to stay the same”

I am most grateful for those of you who ride along with me on my journey of change. I feel you, and hopefully we strengthen each other.

I am most grateful for those who dry my tears, and take my calls and pleas for help when one of my cows is dying, or who rush out here and with one expert jab, find the jugular.

Thank you all for being a part of our lives, and following along this journey of change, whatever it means for your individual lives.

Your life is special, and utterly unique. Only you can fulfill what you were destined to do on this earth, so don’t be afraid to do it, and don’t be discouraged by people or circumstances that seem to get in the way. It is your path, and no one else’s.

I am grateful for you, and I’m grateful we are in this together, cows or not.