As I drive my mini van down our winding gravel drive, I am greeted by an old familiar friend.  He’s faithfully held some of my most “prized” positions; stored frozen goodies acquired from hours of dedicated grocery guru shopping, yet he’s more than a glorified freezer, he’s a reminder.

A reminder that I choose to celebrate the Good ‘enough” Things in my life, and the bottom line is that often, I’d rather not.

Meet my Redneck Freezer.

It’s situated within that supposedly white, yet oh so covered with horrible red NC clay, shed.

For years, I mourned the fact that I had no extra freezer storage.

“I could cut my budget dramatically if I could only stock up on the great frozen food deals when they are advertised,” I used to exclaim, “But (sigh), I have no room in our home where I can store an extra appliance.”

And then my husband suggested we put a freezer in our outside shed. I knew it would never work. We didn’t have electricity out there. We hadn’t budget the extra amount for an electrician to take care of that, so it just wasn’t an option.

“Well,” he mentioned,”I could run multiple extension cords from the freezer, down the side of the shed, through the gravel, through the grass, and into the plug on the side of our house?”

I was quite positive he has lost his mind.

It’s been quite a few years now since we had this discussion, but I am sure I responded with something like, “Seriously? That would work? We’d be driving our vehicles over the cords? It would look so tacky. There’s no way to hide the cord on our house. It would look  beyond red necky.”

In my mind, it was not a good enough solution.

“Well, then don’t complain anymore about not having an extra freezer.” (Saying it in a sweet, gentle, yet wonderfully “you need to hear me on this” way.)

And that was that.

For every excuse we make, there is often a solution. We just don’t want to choose that good enough solution or we convince ourselves we have no other option.

I didn’t want a redneck freezer. I wanted a white picket fence freezer, but I didn’t ” need” it.

It was a “want”, pure and simple.

It’s been years now since I listened to my incredibly smart man, and that Red Neck freezer has served us well over the years.

That last picture was taken this morning as I looked out my side door.

The beautiful autumn foliage falls on the dirty eaves, so I get a bit distracted with another “to do” item on my list, yet I think of all the lessons that freezer has taught me.

It’s taught me about the practical aspects of food storage, menu planning, and budgeting, but more than that it’s been a caveat to real life lessons.

It’s housed countless meals that have been served to guests, and not one of those friends struggled with that fact it was pulled from our red neck freezer.

As I look at that tacky cord running down the shed wall, it stirred up memories of our year of unemployment. We were able to live off the food that had been stored in that freezer for months. I am grateful that we had the funds to purchase it before my husband lost his job, and I am so thankful that I received his wise counsel.

It’s a privilege to own this Redneck Freezer.

It’s a daily reminder to put aside my own proud tendencies, and embrace all the Good “enough” Things in my life.

My red neck freezer is a GOOD thing, and even though we now have the funds to get a white picket one, who needs it when they can raise their hand and proudly declare they are just a bit of a Red Neck? 🙂

31days buttons bbb wide Doctored Up Snickers Cupcakes (with cake mix)

Read the rest of my 31 Days of Good ‘enough” Things by clicking here, and don’t miss the launch of 10 Minute Dinners.

I’m tackling 31 Days towards 10 Minute Dinners over at my new site.