Away from the things of man

The purging is slowing down. I think we've sent about 20 bozes of stuff to the thrift store. How did we get so much?!! I don't even miss any of it, I don't even remember most of it....

I started re-reading the Little House books last week and my husband has even gotten in on it. It's helping us take a good look at our lives and how we use our time. So much of it is spend idled away. I love reading about how they stored food and made butter and cheese. Sometimes, okay frequently, I wish I could move out into the middle of Wyoming or Montana and just live off the sweat of my brow. It feels like we're always caught up in this cycle of work-spend-consume. It's so hard to escape that when you live in suburbia! I know there are people who do it and maybe I just need to try that much harder to live it. I own a house, so I can finally get a clothes line (there were always restrictions at apartments). Plus I can terrace my whole backyard into a giant vegetable garden. And I really should make more food from scratch.

I don't really understand it. I know a lot of us romanticise the past and forget that a lot of people died from the elements and such. I truly am grateful I can eat bananas while living in Utah. But still, that pull to move into the mountains in a cabin pulls at me. I think you either have that desire or you don't; not a judgement, just personal taste. Maybe it's like camping, you either like it, or you don't. I think I could spend a whole summer camping if I could...

I'm proud of some things we've done already. We live 1.5 miles from my husband's job so that he can be home more and we use less resources getting him to work. Sure, we could've lived in a much nicer home, farther away, but a 1 hour commute time just wasn't appealing. We buy most of our clothes second hand because it's better for the environment and our wallets. Maybe I need to focus more on what we have done and can do here instead of running away from modern life. Meanwhile we'll secretly be hoping my father-in-law leaves his cabin in Alaska to us when he dies ;)

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