Living Away From It All

This weekend, we went to visit my sister. She and her husband live at a camp in Northern Minnesota. Her husband is the manager of the camp, so they get to live on site. They have a pretty nice house, but my other half and I stayed in a small apartment above the garage. It was mighty cold the first night, but we were bundled up enough to handle it.

It may be the combination of visiting them and looking at information about Holden Village, but I started to think that it would be very cool to live in some cabin away from it all. I could turn into my own sort of hermit. I could grow my own food and use an outhouse through the harsh winter. I could live on a camp site, and have access to some of the most beautiful property on God's green earth. Wouldn't it be swell.

However, the feeling always passes. There are two reasons for this:

1. I grew up in a very isolated environment. My family lived miles from our nearest neighbors, and five miles past the nearest telephone line. It's a beautiful property (my parents still live there). However, I'm an extrovert. I want to be around other people. And I don't always get along with people who really love living in a small town. Which leads me to my second reason...

2. I think I really am a big city person. I love living in Minneapolis. I still have a fantasy to live in New York. I think that living in such an isolated area again would drive me a little crazy.

OK - so I've established that I probably am not going to live in a cabin in the woods. But, this weekend I have also discovered the importance of leaving the city and having a cabin-in-the-woods experience. I probably won't get to the point of "roughing it" in a tent for a long period of time. However, visits to places like my sisters, my parents, and even places like Holden Village (Did you click on the link above? I've only heard wonderful things about this place. I REALLY need to visit it).

I should be a city slicker who recharges himself in the woods. I need to schedule some sabbath time away from my overly scheduled life to do some contemplative work. This sabbath time is not often taken. Too often, I mix my vacations with work. That does not make sabbath time. It just makes work with travel. I need to do some real retreating from the world.

Holden, here I come!