Peering over her laptop in her sun-lit home office, Dixie Lynn laughs while talking about watching “The Little Rascals” with her children, Samuel and Rosabelle. Dixie taps the keyboard, checks her email and gets a bit of work done before heading outside to feed the family's hens.
“This is the best point that I’ve ever been at in my life, the happiest, the most fulfilled," she says.
Dixie hasn't always been so comfortable juggling multiple roles. Within three years of meeting her husband, Nathan, the couple married and had two children. After the birth of Sam and Rosie, they tackled parenthood together, but Nathan, a musician, was often on the road performing and working side jobs to support the family and his music.
“I didn’t want him to give up the dream of playing music,” Dixie says. She wonders if Nathan realizes the magnitude of her contributions at home. She wonders if thanks go unsaid.
Five years ago, Nathan went to work for the McCracken County Public Library. His full-time job and hectic performance schedule often prevent him from spending time with Dixie, Sam and Rosie.
“I’m trying to maintain my identity but also be a very good mom and a good role model for them,” Dixie says. “This is my role and it happened for a reason.”
In the fading light of an unusually warm October night, the family works together threading jute twine through metal posts to create a makeshift fence.
“Without Dixie, I couldn’t do what I do,” Nathan says as he ties the twine.
A tiny smile creeps across Dixie’s face as she hears her self-proclaimed "folk-musician-pretending-to-be-a-librarian" husband acknowledge that he is married to a good-hearted woman.
