For instance, when I imagined chopping wood for the blazing hearth, I didnt consider the backbreaking work of hurling a heavy ax through the air, splitting oak dense as iron, splinters flying, hands blistering. And, after that bone-tiring workout, the wood has to be stacked; another backbreaking labor.

Another dream was having our children grow up in pristine, pine-scented air. No one tells you that half the population on earth is severely allergic to pine pollen and my kids and I belong to that afflicted half. So from January to June, we are a weepy family. Since we appear to be crying all the time, youd never know how happy we were to move from the toxic city to our country paradise.

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