Monday, October 29, 2012

Happiest Place On Earth

Good Morning Beloved Reader.
I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. 

We had a somewhat relaxing weekend. A couple of kid birthday parties, church, baking bread, arts and crafts time, carving pumpkins. The one below was the masterpiece of one of the Village People here, Dana. Isn't it awesome? And of course in MoNoSco's house there is always some great conversation going on somewhere.

I want to share one of those convo's with you all this morning.


My Giant likes to throw "fun facts" my way quite a bit.
In fact, we have been together for so long that it's kind of an ongoing joke between the two of us. In our early days, I wouldn't believe him about some of the random things he would tell me, so I would say, "Sources Moses, Sources?" 


But, then over time I realized he does know what he's talking about, and time and time again when I checked sources sure enough he would be right.
He has the brain of an elephant. Honestly, I don't know how he remembers these little "fun facts" or even why, but I love (honest I do)them, and HIM ;).
The other night while I was standing around in the kitchen( Ha ha, I was doing dishes of course what else would I be doing standing around in a kitchen for?) he said,
"Do you know where the Happiest Country or Place on earth is?"
To which, I replied..."Of course I DO silly Disneyland!" No. No, that's not what I said.
Because, somehow I knew deep down in my knower that he wasn't going to say, "Disneyland... let's go there for Christmas"
 So I said, "No, I don't babe why don't you tell me?"

He then proceeded to tell me what that country is and why it is the happiest place on earth. I'm not going to give away the answer just yet because I want to keep you guessing til the end, but I will tell you so you just hold tight there buckaroo!

You will be surprised.
 
First,Let's talk about why My Giant was telling me about this country being the happiest place on earth, because although he does spew out random facts all the time there was a reason for this particular one. 
He said, their happiness was due to a large portion of the country that lives in community.
Now this is of interest to us, because WE live in community.


That's right. I said it. Out Loud. We live communally.
We have a tiny cabin that houses our immediate family of 6. And then we have a family of 4 that lives right outside this cabin in a trailer (until they can build) and another family of 2 soon to be 4 who live in another small cabin. WE all share the one bathroom(right now) and WE all share the one kitchen(right now). Together there are 12 of us. 
Now I know, you might leave my blog right here and right now to go on some normal person's blog, but let me just say although we are not the norm, we ARE very normal. 
Many people associate communal living with Hippies, or strange cults and they don't understand it can just be normal everyday people who are sharing everyday life so that the burdens of life are hopefully a bit less for all.
I don't talk often about this community here for their privacy sake, but I mention them here to you now to say, I knew what My Giant was getting at.

He wanted me to know where the happiest country on earth is and he wanted me to know why.
Do you want to know what country it is?
Now that you know why they are so happy?

I'm getting there, just hold them there horses people.
(Ha ha, I'm practicing my inner southern lady drawl today)

The why behind what we do is important don't ya think?
I often need to be reminded why we live this way because it can be quite challenging at times. Sharing is not easy on a 24/7 basis, but it can be beautiful. A beautiful mess somedays, and other days, simply beautiful.
If you are interested in reading more about us my buddy Ryan, who was also a passer through villager for a moment, and who is also a blogger wrote a beautiful tribute to us HERE

But for now, I will leave you with this,
the Happiest Place on Earth is not Disneyland as some would assume.

I bet many of you are guessing Italy, or Maybe some island where it's warm and beautiful like Jamaica. Not many of you would guess the real country because it's not sunny, it's not warm, it doesn't have Mickey or Minnie and it's not tropical. 
Can I get a drum roll please.....

It's Denmark.
Yep, good ole' Denmark.
And if ya wanna check the Big Guys sources here ya go;
ABC NEWS
Linking up here
Covered in Gracemiscellany monday at lowercase letters

11 comments:

Unknown said...

i wanna hear more about this community-sounds interesting oh, and im not goin anywhere!!! :) have a beauty of a day!

No(dot dot)el said...

Kendra- so glad that I didn't scare you off sweet lady xo. Oh and yes, well read that post that I linked from Ryan. It is a pretty good description of what we've got going on over here. Some really OLD pics of the cabin and some commentary on the Village people. :)

amoryg said...

I like reading about your community. High five for sharing your bathroom and kitchen. I can't even share my house with my FIL. ;)

amoryg said...

Oh! And SWEET pumpkin!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Barefoot Hippie Girl said...

I think your commune/community is amazing! You are blessed to share your life with these people.
And Denmark? Crazy!
Mr. Hippie has a whole retinue of fun facts up his sleeve too. What's with these guys?=)
Have a wonderful day!

Becca said...

I loved your warm and honest comment on my blog and had to come and check out its source. I chuckled through your "About" section; it sounds like you and your family have quite an amazing community life!

I would not have guessed Denmark but that makes me happy, as one of the best trips I ever took was to Copenhagen. I just loved it. I want to go back with my hubby who, incidentally, took an amazing trip to Copenhagen of his own and also raves about it. We just need to go together now. With kids in tow this time. :-)

http://makingroomwithus.blogspot.it/

Kimberlee said...

Aw your VW pumpkin is adorable :)

carissa said...

that VW pumpkin rocks. just so amazing!!

No(dot dot)el said...

@A$- Ha ha, well ya know if you catch me on a good day it's a beautiful thing, on a bad day ... NOT SO MUCH!! Thanks, but I can't take the credit for that guy. All Dana!

@Bernadette-Thank you, although I'm not sure amazing is the right word. We are really just everyday people try to make this thing called LIFE work- together ;) ha ha Mr. Hippie and My Giant would be besties too I'm sure.

@Becca- I'm so glad you did stop by. Yea, I prolly need to update that About me section. Again, not amazing, just normal, but never a dull moment.
That is SO cool that you got to actually travel to Denmak. What a great fun trip that will be with your kiddos to share it through their eyes.

@Kimberlee- Yes, Dana did such a good job. I Love it!!

@Carissa- Yep, Dana did a great job.

Ryan said...

Great post.

I just finished a book called "The Geography of Bliss" by Eric Weiner, which I would highly suggest. Fun fact (well, sad really), the least happy country in the world is Moldova. No trust, no culture, no happiness.

Stone Cottage Adventures said...

What a fascinating post and a great pumpkin VW bus! I have to wonder if all that sharing leads to better social skills, which leads to better relationships, which leads to more happiness? Just wondering, but I don't really know. FYI... I'm writing about Flash Back Friday today on my blog. I LOVE your linky party! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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