My Pop always called me, “the hostess with the mostest.”

Howdy! My name is Kelly and my son, baby Colt, and I dropped into this little section of heaven on earth last September and, boy oh boy, has it been an adventure! There are so many exciting things to tell you about since I’ve been here, I don’t know where to start.

I want to properly introduce myself by telling you about something that Rabbits have been up to lately that I am particularly fond of: celebrating. I have always felt like my Christian faith has been in opposition to my party girl nature; I mean, all those Old Testament admonitions of ostentatiousness, overindulgence and idleness producing images of those kinds of ancient festivities. When I found out I was pregnant, I took off my party hat. I forgot its existence while it gathered dust.

Swooning over my newborn transitioned into dreaming up the blueprints of our ideal life. I had been aware of ic.org (a directory of intentional communities) and Dancing Rabbit for years and there is just so much about DR that perfectly aligned with the vision that I was forming about the life I wanted to build for Colt

It wasn’t hard at all for me to sell my prized vanity, filled with makeup, and my jewelry (although Granny’s paste jewelry is still safely stashed at my bff’s house). I got rid of nearly all my clothes, including a lifetime’s worth of party dresses, without a second thought. I replaced them with a good pair of Liberty overalls with a stranger’s last name lovingly sharpied on to the inside back panel.

I mean, I had read on DR’s website, “We’re saving the world; we don’t have time to have fun. Just kidding! Like so much else at DR, we mostly make our own fun.” It doesn’t take a genius to know that farm life is the hardest kind of work, so I assumed the website meant to make it seem like they had more leisure time and activities than they actually do because it was the only way they could sucker people into coming over to pitch in!

I was absolutely eager to give up my favorite pastime of my 40-ish years if it meant that Colt could grow up in the woods, with weeds between his toes, an appreciation for the land and animals, and gratitude that comes from the work it takes to steward them.

My first morning at DR, Colt and I were supposed to meet Mae to milk the cows, Sugar and Bessie, at 6:30 am. I was so excited, my mind woke me up at 4 am. With Colt in his wagon, packed with Hot Wheels and a breakfast to go, we embarked on our new life, and loved sharing every laborious moment of it.

It was my first Tuesday that changed everything. Colt and I were coming up the stairs at Skyhouse after a long day of dairy when our housemate, Vick, a steaming dish of broccoli in hand, asked, “Are you going to the potluck?”

“Excuse me? The WHAT?” I said.

“The potluck! Every week everyone in Tricom gets together for a potluck.”

This corn-fed Missouri native knows better than to decline a home-cooked meal. I turned to follow him when a thought stopped me, “I did bring that one green dress. This might be a perfect occasion to throw it on.” So I did.

Later, after joining the party, an absolute jewel of a person, named Josephine, complimented me on my dress and I told her how I only had the one. I explained how I had gotten rid of all my dresses. With a knowing grin, she replied, “Don’t worry, there will be LOTS of occasions to wear dresses.” Boy was she right!

After my Pop died, I heard something that helped me through the rough following holiday season: With loss comes a loss of traditions, but hope lies in the building of NEW traditions. It was true that Colt would never get to know the joy of waiting in my Granny’s basement for the sound of sleigh bells and the stomping of “reindeer hooves” that would signal to my brothers and me to run up the stairs, only to be informed by the whole family that we had, in fact, just missed Santa and his reindeer, just as we had every single year and as our cousins had for years before us. Colt would never get to stay up late camped out with my brothers in front of the fire, dreaming of the days when we’d have little ones to join us. Or to know that you drink sparkling grape juice and eat pickled herring (ok, I’m bringing that one back), and bang pots and pans and shoot guns at the sky on New Year’s.

What Colt WILL know is that Mommy will cook a bird just like she did for her first time here this Christmas Eve. Colt got his first real tree and it was Momma’s first real tree since Pop died. He will know that there is Christmas Eve dessert at Thistledown and Christmas Day brunch at the Mercantile. We started a tradition of a “day of play” at Skyhouse on Christmas Day. We learned that Colt can make it to midnight on NYE at Woodhenge.

We had such an amazing holiday season that I was afraid that it was all going to slow down after New Year’s was over. Then that crazy freeze happened and all life did indeed shut down in lieu of survival mode. Once the snow began to thaw, larger-than-life Dee randomly organized a dinner party at my house (Skyhouse). It was exactly what I needed at just the right time. It was time for “the hostess with the mostest” to shine. I decided that night that I wanted to host parties all of the time. I have been, with Colt at my side. We have been having a blast.

And to it kick off, small dinner parties. DR is just chock full of February birthdays, including Colt’s on the 27th (everyone dressed as creatures great and small, to eat, and have a jam session and CAKE) and mine on the 28th (we played poker, pictured).

It really goes to show that God works in mysterious ways to have landed me in the perfect place, at the perfect time, with the perfect pint-sized partner to fill our perfect role here in our new community. DR is very unconventional and that unconventionality allows the freedom and space for people to become exactly what they want to be. Such as, for example, an actual PUBLISHED author! You can bet your bottom dollar that Colt and I will be celebrating when this is hot off the press!

Yesterday I went shopping at the Salvation Army in Kirksville and I bought a slew of spring dresses. Because, like my Pop (also an author) always said, life is good.

Kelly Brandt is one of our newer residents and she has jumped into DR life with full force! Baby Colt is a cool customer in all situations, including the time he spends at coffee group in the morning. We are grateful to have them living here, adding to the ways we connect as a community.