It’s an interesting one.
Four years ago found me ending a 15 month tour of duty as a soldier in Iraq. Yes, really, me. I was a soldier.
I was coming to find just how much my experience of war had changed me, religiously, politically, physically–I felt changed to my core. Once an evangelical christian, I was now leaving that faith behind (“I can’t believe in a god that sanctions–even commands–war,” thought I).
Most significantly, I had come to see everything I did in my normal American life as “consumer” as exploitative: to myself, my countrymen, to Iraqis I was killing, to countless other people across the globe, to the earth from which we get our life.
I was crippled by the guilt of exploitation. When I returned home, I made drastic life changes; since I moved right in with Nick, he made changes along with me. We left the military behind. We learned to cook all our food, began learning to make our clothing, conserved energy, sold our car and bought two bicycles.
We also rejected the normally-held belief in the necessity of college degrees and regular jobs. Nick quit college, because he saw all the busy work was holding him back from actually learning, because in his field (programming), finished projects matter more than university certificates. Instead, he started a web design business, we pursued plans for a co-op farm, and I luxuriated in exploring all the self-sufficiency tasks I wanted to learn.
Next, wanting to escape the political-social climate of the US, we sold everything and moved to Germany, despite having never before been to Europe. We enjoyed our adventure, though it was lonely. After a year, our work-opportunities were fading, and we crossed the Atlantic again, this time to Canada, as immigrants twice over. Nick was working on his dream of game programming. We reveled in the gift of free communication in a language we know.
Vancouver is lovely, but expensive! Here, one makes a lot, but must also spend a lot, mostly because housing is so costly. It’s also, yes, lonely. How can a million people make one feel so alone? By not speaking to one another! So, we like Vancouver, but…
Since I left the military and changed my life, my goal has been self-sufficiency. I realized the “career” I wanted was that of producer of my own needs. I wanted to cease to be a consumer, and instead be the opposite. And I realized that rich community and self-sufficiency had become my life goals.
And now we’re dreaming the fulfillment of our goals, looking forward to the next chapter of our story. The chapter called “Self-Sufficient Farm.”
While here in BC, properties are priced in millions, we’ve discovered a place where land prices are mere tens of thousands. A place of community and slow lifestyle we could actually afford to dream of. A place where I could take the next step in my “career.”
Could the next chapter hold, as Anne Shirley says, our House of Dreams?
Our wishing is in overdrive.
(If you have a wish-granting faerie, will you make a wish for us?)
Embossed Leaf Cardigan
Knitting Needle Case
