I Wanna Get Out Of Dodge

I have a lot of crazy fucking ideas. 
I can come across a bit irrational. I know it. It's something that makes me feel a bit insecure at times, to be honest. Friends call me out, family responds with a tone that says maybe I should rethink what I'm planning.

I've always been this way. As a child I often considered jumping off a roof, because maybe everyone was lying about me not being able to fly. I still think about it on occasion, even now as I look at the heigh of my home, I wonder if maybe...just maybe, if I got the right mix of wind and momentum I could soar for a few seconds before breaking one, maybe both legs. 
As fun as flying sounds, I guess the risk of broken limbs isn't worth it. Maybe another time.

Once a month or so, I get an email about our home value. The increases, the decreases etc. As it inches closer to double what we paid, I can't help but feel a little excited about participating in the ultimate feat of capitalism, the mortgage, or death agreement if you speak Latin. Owning a home is cool and all, but paying a big ass bill for over half your life fucking sucks. 

What if I take all that equity and turn it into something that is completely mine. What if we invest in self reliance and true freedom from jobs we hate and bills we hate to pay?

What if we buy land and and free ourselves financially? Pay cash for solar panels, build our own home, and stop paying over a grand every month to a bank loan with interest. 

What would you do with no bills and free time to do whatever makes you feel most alive? 

I would grow things. Build a small, curated community away from power lines and easily accessible McDonalds breakfast sandwiches. 

I'd keep a well stocked bar where you could serve yourself and smoke inside, or step out back onto the deck to watch the stars. I'd make a sustainable community for myself and others who want the same.

And maybe this sounds a little 'hippie' for some, but for me it sounds like freedom. Financial freedom, soul freedom, mental freedom. 

Growing my own food, producing my own energy. Finding and creating my own personal space in the world. 

And it's not that wild of an idea when you think about it. Nobody likes to work just to survive. A lot of people can barely survive with the money they make at their full time jobs that are slowly working them to the risk of a heart attack.

No one likes to be told what they can and can't do, what days they have to clock in with a number.

I want to build a greenhouse. I want to find a farm to learn and work on. I want to stay up late and wake early with nothing but chores to get around to. 

I want to eat free range eggs and motherfucking garden fresh salads every day.

I want a Nubian goat, or 10. (yeah yeah yeah Chelsea's goat farm, I know, blow me.)

I want simple life that allows me to do what I want.

We spent the last year feeling trapped and completely lacking control over some life altering shit. I don't want to feel trapped ever again. I don't want to feel helpless or hopeless. 

I don't want neighbors with MAGA hats, or dogs who try to fight mine through a fence. I want to drive down dirt roads, play in lakes and rivers, and remove myself from things that don't bring me peace.

I want a potbelly pig.

-Cheers, Chels.