Living off the Grid

I am not one of those over zealous tree huggers, who recycle everything and go to environment protests, but man what I would give to live "off the grid". To live a life that affects no one else. To no longer be reliant on chlorinated city water, power or gas. To have a self sustaining home out in the woods. To enjoy the life my ancestors once had, but with modern technology. To use wind and solar energy to power a cozy family home. To dig a well and recycle rain water. To grow an organic garden, to have non chemical septic and just live the way, I think, God intended.

If I had the money, I would buy acres of wilderness and build a small seven room cabin in a natural clearing, trying to affect the land as little as possible. Live close enough to paved roads and grocery stores that it wouldn't be a days trip, but live far enough the my children can scream and play in the woods without anyone hearing them. To have the freedom to let my children explore the natural world without the fear of someone harming them.

Maybe close enough that my children can attend public school and have that contact with the outside world, but come home to our magical cabin. To just slow time and savor every moment, what would it be like? Pipe dreams, pipe dreams, why does it have to be a pipe dream?

I would love to break my habit of adding to the common lifestyle of consumerism. I had a dream last night about being forced to leave this home and just go as fast as I could, what would I have to take, what would I need to take? I look around now and realize that other than photos, a few clothes, food, water and a few toiletries, the only thing to me that would matter would be my family(including my dog). Anything in this house can be replaced, if I really needed or wanted them to begin with.

Society tells us we need more and more "stuff" and I see now that it's pointless. We are trying to fill a void in our lives by filling it with junk. Sure somethings are nice to look at and somethings make life easier and more convenient, but is it worth it? If I leave this body tomorrow, I won't be taking anything with me. Life today is so full of things to do, to occupy our time until we die. To make as much money as we can until we die, to accumulate as much stuff as we can until we die. People have closer relationships with nic nacs and clothes than people, it's disgusting.

I find myself thinking about all the time Jesus traveled preaching, living off the land, enjoys the comforts and kindness of strangers. you never heard about the huge Uhaul of junk he brought along with him.

We have built walls of "stuff" to keep people out, I think that the best gift anyone can ever give someone is a piece of themselves, time to spend together. It may not be tangible on the outside, but man it fills that void the way no physical object can.

Alexander Bradley Bishop

When I was 17 I started, I guess you would say "dating" my now husband Matt. We had known of each other for over a year from Journalism, but now we had Astronomy and Journalism together. We went from best friends to totally in love in a matter of weeks. In January of 1999, I found out that I was pregnant. Crystal, my best friend, helped me break the news to my mom and Matt wrote his mom a letter. Reluctantly, my Mom let Matt move in to our condo while we both finished school and started to prepare for our baby. In March I got my first job working at a dry cleaners and Matt continued to work at Albertson's. Matt graduated in June of 1999. We found out that I was having a little boy and that I was due September 12, 1999. I had horrible morning sickness all during my pregnancy. I missed a lot of school because of it. I almost flunked out of most of my classes until my mom wrote notes to all my teachers letting them know that I was pregnant. Most of them gave me a break and some gave me a chance to do some make up work. I continued to attend high school until summer break of my Junior year. In the middle of August, I started to have trouble with my blood pressure and the doctor kept threatening to induce early. Two times I brought my bag to my doctor's appointment, thinking maybe today was the day. On August 30th, we had a doctor's appointment at 4pm and my blood pressure was really high and I was starting to swell really badly and have protein in my urine. So Dr. Marriott sent my straight down stairs to be induces, I was so happy, being pregnant all summer long was miserable. I was put into my room and automatically put on pitocine, I was already 3 cm. I was lucky enough to get my epidural at 7pm. It was a family affair, my mom, Matt(of course), Matt's mom and Dad, Brittany(Matt's little sister) and Stephanie(Matt's big sister) all came for most of the labor and of course the delivery. I slept from about 9pm-midnight and I was woken by contractions. My epidural had come out of the space and I had to have it redone, that sucked really bad, especially because I was having really bad contractions while they were trying to place it. From about 12:30pm-3am, I slept while the family all watched movies that Louise(my mother-in-law) brought. Then when the nurse came in to check me I was ready to push. Unfortunately, my doctor was sleeping up in his office with a loud fan on and didn't hear his beeper or the nurse beating on the office door. The nurse delivered Alexander Bradley Bishop at 3:14 am, August 31, 1999. He had needed some help to breath and it took them a long time to get him to cry, but finally he did and he got all cleaned up and started getting passed around the room to all the family members. Named After: Alexander- My Paternal Grandfather is Emmett Alexander Wright. Bradley- Mostly because we liked it, but also because our good friend Brad. Alex weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces and was 19 inches long. We stayed our normal three days in the hospital and them we went home with our little baby boy.