I once from 1980 until 1989 when I moved to Hawaii owned 2 1/2 acres of land so remote there was no electricity lines or phone lines within 5 to 10 miles of where we lived. There were no cell phones either and if the kids wanted to watch TV they had to get on a bicycle I had rigged up with a generator and a battery to watch TV. So, it was very remote and we could do pretty much whatever we wanted to because rules were not that bad and we were very free in our lives.
For example, I remember one day we just put everyone (wife, 3 kids, myself on 1974 Honda Dualsport motorcycle with knobby tires and rode it up a dirt road that summer up until the snow level on Mt. Shasta. Our dog which ran alongside of us got tired at one point and I put her on the handlebars to catch her breath. We saw No one during this 10 mile ride up dirt roads from 4000 feet to about 8000 feet in elevation on Mt. Shasta that hot summer day. When we finally reached the snow we dumped the bike all laughing on the snow. Some of you might be horrified others of you are laughing. However, we were as free as most people dream of in their fantasies then. We really were free. However, then when it snowed where we lived at 4000 feet we had to park far away from where we lived and get out the bobsled and cross country skies out of the back of our 1974 International Harvester Scout II (which could literally go anywhere in 4 wheel drive low range with a locked rear end then) and we would put our groceries we bought at the store and tie it on the bob sled and tow the sled while we were on cross country skis (all the kids too) to our A-Frame home deep in the woods with a great view of Mt. Shasta and a spring for water on the land. It was idyllic in many ways for us then because we were in our early 30s and very happy there.
But then all things change and our oldest in 1985 then 12 said he wanted to return to school and go off home schooling through Oak Meadow School Independent study so we bought a business near San Francisco and moved to the Northern California coast and ocean. But, my wife and I were never really happy after that even though the kids got a really good education so we broke up finally in 1994 for the last time. Our youngest children by then were 20 and 5 years of age.
But, having been actually free to live my dream with my now ex-wife is one of the reasons I'm still alive now at 68. So, at least for 5 years I was truly free in a way most people never are while home schooling our children. To live your dreams is priceless in anyone's life.
By God's Grace
Now my life is completely different. I go to Mount Shasta to go 4 wheeling with riding my dualsport motorcycle there or ski or hike or swim in the mountain lakes there (depending upon what time of year it is) still. I travel the world more than I did then (at least until I went to India, Nepal and Thailand in 1985 and 1986). I'm now married a 3rd time over 21 years now with a 20 year old daughter in college and my other younger kids in other countries overseas either in college or working and my two older step kids from my 2nd marriage are now a lawyer and a fire captain and in their mid 40s and my youngest from those days, My son is a teacher overseas with his wife and child, a grandson.
So, like I said, life is completely different even though Mt. Shasta is still my spiritual home on earth and my physical home has been the general area of the greater San Francisco Bay area since around 1992 now and we lived in Hawaii for awhile around 1989 and 1990 on Maui in Hana, and Paia. So, life is good now but in a completely different way than then. I miss my youth but don't miss the struggle to make ends meet financially then. Now, I'm mostly retired and have "The Leisure to Practice" that the Tibetan Lamas spoke to me about in the early 1980s where you pray without ceasing for all life in the universe. How peaceful life is in this state!
By God's Grace
No comments:
Post a Comment