Simple and Basic

I'm pretty selfish, I guess, when you get right down to the nitty-gritty of it all. My dream of living out here, off the grid and far away from civilization, has nothing to do with improving the world as a whole or producing any type of educational benefit to the masses. All I really care about is how this will impact mine and my husband's life, how this will allow our dreams to become reality, and how it will benefit us in the long run.
This type of life is not for everyone and, in fact, it is for very few. There is nothing easy or simple about it, regardless how many times we, or others, may claim that it is a 'simple life'. 
It's not. It is far from 'simple'! 
A better word would be 'basic'. It is getting back to the 'basics' of life and understanding that there will be a lot of sweat and hard work to maintain this 'basic' life. The simplicity comes in realizing that we, as a world, have become so spoiled and enslaved by the easy things of the world, such as a flip of a switch or turn of a knob to give us electricity and water without a thought as to how it travels to us or how much we are paying for that ease of transport. We no longer have to physically exert ourselves for the basics. We just pay an enormous amount of money to the electric and water companies for the right to have electric at our finger tips and water from our taps. It's bad enough that we have to pay taxes in order to keep what is rightfully ours in the first place!
A simple life arrives when you stop and realize that, with a little sacrifice and a lot of hard work, you can have the basic necessities of life without having to be enslaved to a power company. A simple life allows you to take back control of your basic needs and necessities, where you become independent and solely responsible for those basic needs.

Presently I reside in an old, poorly built, poorly designed, uninsulated house in town. I am currently hooked up to all of the 'on grid' things such as electric, city water, ground line telephone, high speed internet and satellite television. Summers aren't too bad, but in fall, winter and early spring I feel as if I am going to freeze to death! The walls and ceilings 'sweat' and I have to constantly battle mold and mildew. My stove is electric and when we lose power, which is pretty darned often, I am unable to cook. My yard is so tiny (less than 1/8th acre) that I could easily throw a cat from any direction and clear the fences. I also live just a few feet from what can sometimes be a pretty busy highway. Because of that highway, plus the town ordinances against pets running around without leashes, my dogs have to stay behind a fence and my cats have to stay indoors. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but I have one dog and two cats who are suicidal and always end up in the middle of the highway! Add to this that I have two boys who hibernate in their rooms with game controllers in hand because I have allowed them to become dependent on the ease of electricity and internet.

So, I sit here and I pray...I pray for the sell of this house and a permanent move Out Where the Wild Things Grow. 
I am excited. To break away from the 'norm', to get out on our property, to build something where nothing once stood, to get busy, be active, be free.
I am fearful. To break away from the 'norm'...how bad will it hurt? Am I too old to chase another dream? Can we make this work? Will we fail? Will this house in town ever sell?
But, if we never get the chance to try, we will never get the chance to know!
So, I pray even more!!!
One day...