TUNES // Songs: Ohia – Just Be Simple

An incomplete list of things I’ve done since you last heard from me:

Moved (again). This time to the Seattle area. Closer to where I started out.
Planted a garden.
Finished a novel. (Feels genuinely crazy to type that.)
Battled a large number of garden slugs.
(Lost.)
Got interested in plant identification.
Made some new friends, had a New Years party.
Became reacquainted with mountains.
Walked in the woods.
Made and ate a number of soups.
Bought a bunch of taper candles. I really love taper candles these days.
Met a friend who taught me how to sew a skirt.
Got a library card.
Joined a Spanish language exchange group.
Went foraging for mushrooms, didn’t die.

I’ve been thinking a lot about living simply. How to do it. Where to start. What it even means, in this context.

This is a song from 2003. In 2003 I was in 7th grade. A time at once much simpler and also not simple at all. I was worried about what kind of socks to wear so that I wouldn’t get bullied in gym class. I was saving up for a pair of pants from Hot Topic. I was complaining whenever my mom asked me to help her in the garden but secretly enjoying it once we got going. Shelling peas. Planting carrots. Digging potatoes.

So yes. Just be simple again. Where to start. What does it even mean in this context. As yet not sure but I do think I’d like to try to do more of it.

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