Sunday, November 3, 2013

What types of questions does your family have regarding living off-grid?

As I put things together to write a book one of the things I have been thinking about has been what my family thinks about my choice to live off-grid. I have not talked with all of them but I am fairly certain that they really don't have a clue why I decided living off-grid was the right thing for me. Hell, sometimes I don't either.

The one that is really hard to explain it to is my Mom. She is in her early 80s and really misses me as I live over 3 hours away from the rest of my family. When I lived in the same town I would go over to her house at least 3-4 times a week to visit and have a meal or two. So it is hard for her that I live so far away. Now I am not an only child or anything like that. I have 4 sisters and 1 brother. My one sister, Tammy, lives with her and Mom sees my sister, Karen, and my brother, Steve, almost daily. And then she sees my other sisters, Vick and Debbie, at least once or twice a week. I talk to my Mom almost every day so it is not like she does not hear from me but it is still hard for her. I am not certain if I will ever be able to make her understand.

We have a family group on FB so I posted there to see what type of questions my family may have for me. My sister Karen asked me a question that I never really gave much thought to. She asked if I ever questioned my ability to do the work it takes to live off-grid as I get older? I guess this is not something that I have given much thought when I decided to live off-grid. But after thinking about it I think one of two things will most likely happen. One - I will have all my systems in place so that I will no longer have to haul water and I may have a different heat source for the house that does not involve having to deal with firewood. These are the two big items when it comes to basic needs that I would worry about. The second is that I will have moved on to some other phase of my life and not be off-grid any more. I don't plan on this being the case but never say never. But I figure barring any major accident/injury or illness I should be good for another 20+years.

So this was one of the questions I have gotten from one of my family members. I guess there are things I need to think about as I get older and how to make living off-grid work. Aging and physical issues will be something that I will need to include in the various projects and planning stages that I am thinking about right now.

So what questions have you gotten from your family?

Peace,
Pam