There’s something Chad and Nicole have been watching on TV. They don’t have cable so they’re probably watching it through Netflix or Amazon. I think Vince and I have seen parts of it but it’s about an older guy who went to Alaska (I think) to live and he lived there til he was pretty old, all alone. He kept a journal and they were sharing parts of it on the show last night. He said some profound things that made me stop and think. I need to find out from Chad what’s the name of the show and see if maybe someone has published this guy’s journals.
It’s probably the kind of things we’d all think about if we lived in solitude for months and years, had to rely on ourselves for every single thing except I think someone came and brought him supplies maybe twice a year but he mostly lived off fish and berries.
I was sitting there, watching and thinking. What if we lived with no:
- TV
- Internet
- Cell Phone
- Newspaper or magazines
- Food from the grocery store
- Shopping
- Human interaction
He apparently loved it and thrived. I think they said he was never sick . . not even a cold. He wasn’t exposed to anything. He worked his tail off so he stayed in good physical shape and ate like we probably should all be eating.
Some days I think about how life used to be. I can remember it but Chad and his generation can’t. Maybe they’ll remember things their children and grandchildren can’t but I remember a life where moms didn’t work (not that I’m against working moms . . I was one). I believe someone has to be raising the kids and for the average family, mom working, coming home tired and possibly stressed from a job, there’s dinner to cook, homework that may need assistance, laundry, general housekeeping . . no one is Superwoman. I watch Nicole. She’s exhausted by 8 p.m. and she has one child who is pretty good at entertaining herself. But, back to my story . . moms were home, kids lived where they could play outside, either with neighborhood kids or romp through the woods at grandma’s; TV wasn’t the center of everyone’s life, meals were cooked at home and eaten at the same time around a table, often the food was homegrown. Families had time to talk about their days, they were genuinely interested in what the kids were doing and fathers and mothers “communicated” with their kids.
Maybe the lifestyle young families are living today is better than when I grew up but it surely doesn’t feel like it to me.
But, back to my story. Just watching the old guy made me yearn for a time when things moved a little slower; when there was more compassion, kindness and less hatred and mean, hurtful words.
In his journal, the old man often asked questions and then answered them. These were a few that struck a chord with me:
What am I capable of doing that I have not done?
What are my limits?
And, then, just a general statement:
It’s amazing how good a hard cot feels after a hard day of work.
I never have trouble sleeping. I can sleep all day, get up, shower, go back to bed and sleep all night. Vince has a hard time sleeping. He has a habit of falling asleep in his chair . . often throughout the day. I keep telling him if he would stay awake all day, he might sleep better at night. I’m no doctor . . maybe I’m right; probably I’m wrong but it really struck me that the harder we work, the more tired we are, often, the better we sleep.
The bed I sleep on at Chad’s is not amazingly comfortable. My bed at home is amazingly comfortable. At Chad’s, I do not have much room in the bed. Addie sleeps with me, along with George, some stuffed dog, and 7 unicorns, and most nights, a 50 pound Husky. There’s not much room in that bed! This was at the foot of my bed when I went to go to bed last night. I end up sleeping with my legs hanging off the bed til Speck gets tired of me infringing upon his space and then he gets on the floor on his own bed.
He’s such a good dog and Addie loves him so I remind myself that I’m the visitor here. His routine is sleeping right there near her so I don’t complain.
There’s so much we can learn from old people. I know . . some of you are thinking I’m an old person. I am but I’m talking about old people who have knowledge worth sharing. Hardly a single day goes by that I don’t wish I could sit down and talk with my grandmother. It’s kinda sad that when we have our grandparents around, too many of us are busy being kids and teens, and then young adults and it’s usually after you’re a grandparent yourself that you wish you could ask your own grandparent questions!
So, in the end, my question for myself is this: What am I capable of doing that I have not done yet? Maybe I’ll ponder that as I drive for 10 hours in a few days!
Vicky says
I have always related to your stories of your grandparents. Neither side of my grandparents ever had running water or inside bathrooms. Totally not the way I grew up. But I loved staying with them. During summers I would stay with them for weeks at a time, bathing from a wash tub using rain water. My life is so different now of course. One thing my husband and I do concerning our grandsons is we try to do some things in an old school way. I’ll play records on a record player my mom got me a few years ago for this purpose. I’ll pit cherries with my old cast iron cherry pitter. We’ll make ice cream at least once a visit with a hand cranked maker (I do have an electric one). Popcorn on the stove instead of the microwave. I could go on. They love it! They will even ask to do things the “old timey way”. I don’t know all the old ways but I know some. I don’t know exactly how this relates to your post but it’s a way of showing them that generations before them did things differently.
Dianne says
Oh, I love this blog…Of course, I love all of your blogs!! You must find out what the name of this show is..I want to watch it too!!
Linda B says
I did some googling. I think the documentary is called “Alione in the Wulderness.” It looks really interesting.
Amy in PA says
Yep, that’s it! I bought it a few years ago and it’s time to revisit the DVD, I really enjoyed it.
Laura Haywood says
I don’t remember my childhood years in quite the rosy terms that you do – and we’re within a few years of each other in age. My dad really wasn’t interested in what his kids were doing – we were mostly annoyances, even though my mom did 90% of the child raising, and she worked! Communication was short and to the point. Everyone has their own experiences, though.
dezertsuz says
Good questions. I had a lot of conversations with my Grandmother, but I didn’t ask her the right things then, the things I’d want to know now. And my aunt, too. Paul’s mother and grandmother. I wish I’d talked to them about different things than I did.
There are days I think about not replacing my computer when it dies. Which, since it isn’t the new 64-bit won’t be too long. Then I think of how many of my friends are long-distance, how many I not only keep up with but actually met through the computer. I don’t want to give up that contact, OR the possibility of making more friends still. Realistically, I’m not likely to live without one unless circumstances (like what? An EMP maybe!) force me to it.
Diane Russell says
My dad was career military, so mom stayed at home. When he was overseas my grandparents would live with during the week and go home on weekends. Basically we had two sets of parents, it was great. I think we were better off with moms at home. People raising children, not electronics. My grandparents taught us a lot of things and were always willing to play a game, go fishing, or just talk on the porch swing. My grandson lives with me, and his mom and stepdad, so he is also getting two sets of parents. I have always though that multi generations are meant to live together. We were not allowed to watch TV during the week. always had meal times together, kids washed and dried the dishes and after that homework. Only played in the house when it was raining. My mom had an old ships bell hanging by the back door, this is how she called us home, it we couldn’t hear the bell, other kids would tells us and we went home. Even the dogs would come home with the bell ringing. I honestly think that our devices are taking us away from human contact.
Andrea says
I couldn’t agree with you more that modern life has people more disconnected than ever. People are ignoring the real things happening around them all the time to stare at a screen that shows them about other people. When they’re not on their devices they’re thinking of what pictures to take to put on their social media. I find it all so staged, phony, and sad. The worst is when I see a family eating out, and the parentsiare on the phone while the child basically eats alone. I don’t understand why people can’t put away the internet world and interact with their children.
Kay L Ford-Sollimo says
That show about the man living alone in Alaska is a PBS documentary shown in our area often around fund raising time. If you go to the website of your area PBS station, you can buy it there.