silence of the cows

When I was a teenager, I fell in love with cows. Well, to be more specific--cows of the fake kind. I thought they were so adorable! During my high school years, I started my collection of them. I bought cows, I crafted some cows, and my friends gave me several cows. My good friend Heather gave me a shirt with this on it:I loved it! I wore that T-shirt until the armpits were yellow and there were holes in it. After I got married (to a dairy farmer's son of all people!), I knew that I wanted to display my cows, so I chose to have a cow-kitchen. I cut that T-shirt and framed it, and it's been in my kitchen ever since. I have had cows adorning my kitchen for 12 years!

After my collection became too big to fit in just the kitchen, I decided to have a cow bathroom as well. This phase lasted about 2 years, when I figured I needed to down-size. I got rid of older ones and dirty ones and not-cute-anymore ones. After the purge, the remainder of the cows all fit back into my kitchen again. As time went on, whenever I added a new cow to my collection, I immediately got rid of an old one (since we live in a small house, I'm very strict with the rule of "bring something in, take something out").

I have loved my cows. I have loved the country feel they add to my home, especially in this house that we've lived in for 7 and 1/2 years. It's been very fitting to have a cow kitchen while living on a dairy farm! To go along with the whole theme, my floor is black and white checkered, my cabinets are white with black knobs, my cupboards are lined with black and white checkered contact paper, my walls have a cow wallpaper border. I have bought cow shelves, cow pictures, cow glasses, cow measuring spoons, cow hand towels, cow magnets, cow souvenirs. I have been given many cow decorations, homemade and store-bought, by family and friends, including this vinyl saying I put above my cupboards: "The family that grazes together stays together".

But the time and the season have come to end the reign of the cows. The cows have lived a very good life, and have served their purpose well, but I needed to bid my mooing friends farewell, including the framed shirt. The kitchen in our new house is very open and doesn't have a lot of display room, so there won't be any place for my cows. The new kitchen is very neutral and has a more antique feel, and the cows just won't belong in there. So, in preparation, I went through and cleaned up all my cows, threw some away, put many in a box to sell at our moving yard sale, and I chose to keep just a few...I couldn't quite bring myself to get rid of ALL of them!!! Some of them have extreme sentimental value, especially ones that were gifted to me by my mother, my aunt Candi, my Grandma Perkins, and some of my friends. In our new home, the cows will now reside in the boys' bathroom.

I'm sad to see the end of the mooing era, but in saying goodbye to my beloved bovines, I'm opening up space within myself and my home for something new to enter! Packing up my cows is the first of many changes to come with getting a new house! It's overwhelming and exciting at the same time!!!