Before this weekend, I’m embarrassed to say it had been over 5 years since my last camping trip. I used to go often when I lived in rural Ohio, but my lifestyle changed when I moved to the ugly concrete jungle suburbia known as Cary, NC in 2013. In Cary, people buy cookie-cutter houses two feet apart in strict HOA-managed subdivisions for a half a million dollars. They upgrade to the latest model Mercedes every other year to impress people they don’t even like and spend more on shoes than I do on rent. In other words, they’re far from the type of simple down-to-earth people my husband and I are.
We needed a break from the city, from work and traffic and constant stimulation, so we came out here to a remote part of the mountains to do some primitive camping and have some relaxing family time. We originally planned on tent camping, but we thought better of it when the weather reports (accurately) predicted very cold rainy weather. We could have cancelled the whole thing but we were devoted to escaping the city, so we upgraded to a tiny A-frame cabin, and I’m thankful that we did as I lie here NOT wondering how long it takes toes to fall off due to hypothermia.
Despite the upgrade, this is still the most primitive living I’ve experienced since I moved down here. There’s some electricity for running a space heater and very spotty WiFi, no running water and no TV. Does this bother me? Nope! At first, I wondered “What will we do?” because I’m used to always doing something. The answer that came to mind was inspiring: we don’t always need to be doing something! I’ll repeat that in case you didn’t hear me. We don’t always need to be doing something! It’s not only perfectly OK to relax and do nothing; it’s awesome!!
So that’s exactly what we’ve been doing: just chilling and enjoying our weekend. Our dog Miles has met and played with several other dogs and he’s having a blast. We’ve been resting, admiring the scenery, grilling hot dogs, cuddling and talking. Sometimes less technology is better. Sometimes we have too much going on in our day-to-day lives to take a step back and remember all the wonderful little reasons we decided to spend our lives together to begin with.
We’re going home tomorrow, and I’m definitely looking forward to having indoor plumbing and TV again, but I’m glad we came out here because it helped me reconnect with all the things I love about my life and stop stressing out about the challenges and upcoming hurdles. Also, I know for 100% sure that if our country gets bad enough to necessitate it, I’d be happy going off the grid with my husband and living in a tiny cabin in the woods.
Musings of a Dog Mom 