What does that even mean?
I hear the phrase often as tribute to an era gone by or as a measure of future successes. Oh, what a simple life. Oh, to live a simple life.
Here’s the thing: I’m not buying it.
I don’t want it.
The phrase itself has never seemed appealing to me…it has a way of highlighting simplicity as desirable by underwriting achievement as undesirable. That’s not my love language.
It also comes across to me as small…that a simple life means that you are content in small spaces, with small communities, and when the world is so big with so much glory, I just can’t seem to want that…
If digging deeper, I think my aversion to the word largely stems from the fact that to me, a simple life is an unmemorable one….and that terrifies me.
While I’ve always shivered at the phrase, I found myself flabbergasted by it while on a tour of an iron mill in Pittsburgh. The tour guide (who really was wonderful despite the story I’m about to tell) was explaining the “abundance of energy” that had captured the area in the heyday of the steel industry. He talked about millionaire’s row and the Carnegies, and how the land itself was providing ore and iron and coal and water to make the steel, and how Pittsburgh was driving the industrialization of the entire nation with its high levels of production, and how people were flocking to the area to join the movement, and how the men working in the mills were taking giant risks with the work they were required to do, and how the women were constantly pulling their wash off the lines to keep it from being filled with soot, and I was literally leaning forward on the edge of my seat, and then he said “ you know, it was just a simple life.”
And then I made in audible guffaw and jerked my head back in a shocked response that no doubt gave me six chins.
How, on God’s green earth, was that a simple life?!
You’ve just described a scene immortalized by history books and that seems simple? Did it feel simple to the mill workers at the time? I doubt it. They were hungry, that’s why they were there after all. They wanted something better, something bigger, and I doubt they viewed their risky living as something that would later be described as simple.
Perhaps we’re conditioned to look back on prior generations and view their pains and plights as simpler than our own, but I’ll never understand why we glorify it that way.
Now I realize there are other words we could use in the phrase that might sound slightly more appealing to me. Perhaps a “Facebook free” life or sometimes even a “people-free life” but at its core, the idea of cutting out anything from this life, doesn’t work well for me. A simple life implies we’re missing out on the complexity of the rest of it and I want all of it. Every last drop of it. Bring on the complications. Bring on the tears. Bring on the intensity, the difficult decisions, the courageous conversations, and all the regrets.
May I greet the good Lord above with a smile and say “well, that was anything but simple”.
Road Trip Updates
Whew! Y’all, Pittsburgh was unexpectedly charming. The city had a grit to it that just spoke to my soul. From the heart of the city, you can look up into the hills and see hundreds of homes looking down on you…and I had this sense that if need be, I bet folks could and would descend down into the city with pitchforks to stop (or start) trouble instantly. Those are my kind of people. My kind of scrappy people.
Pittsburgh was also an endearing city due to the number of fun neighborhoods. I’m told that people have an intense loyalty to their small section of the city which made for fun conversations, but also meant that every neighborhood I drove through had unique hangout spots ranging form quirky coffee shops to mom-and-pop art shops.
This stop was also an interesting one because I was working from an office for the first time since March 2020! My company, that supported this crazy plan, is based in Pittsburgh so despite being by employed by the company for over three years, I finally had my first day “in” the office. This also meant that I had my first week working with a monitor (yes, I’ve been working on two laptops this whole time) and wowza! I missed those things!
Unfortunately, this stop was also my first bad Airbnb experience. The unit had not been cleaned by the time I arrived but the host was willing to work with me. He issued a partial refund and asked that I come back the following day when it had been properly cleaned. This meant that Boston and I got a night at the Hyatt and, because I couldn’t drop her off at the unit until it was clean, we spent the next day together exploring dog friendly areas.
I think Pittsburgh has plenty more to discover and I hope I can make it back sometime soon!
Current mileage: 6972 miles
States Stayed in So Far: Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C.
Foodie Shoutouts: The peaches and cream latte at Hilltop Coffee, the Sriracha Honey Sunrise breakfast sandwich from Bruegger’s Bagels (I legit went back for another one the next day), boxty tots at The Pub Chip Shop, and the Café Chicken sandwich at Point Brugge.
Cool Things: A tour of the Carrie Blast Furnace (this was AMAZING!), a walk through Frick Park, the Point of View scenic overlook, and working in an office. 😊
Love,
Holly
P.S. Here’s a little video recap of my time in Pittsburgh!