After reading another blog I knew I had to at least put a
few words together that might bring a balance to the Survivalist vs Common
Sense Planner debate from a Grandma’s window.
There was an ancient woman, Naomi [her name meant “sweet”], who
faced these very issues and she lived both sides Survivalist and Common Sense
Planner. Famine struck and her and her husband
had to make some difficult decisions.
They packed off to “no man’s land” leaving family and tried to
survive. After years the result was a husband
dead, two sons dead and three women left standing. She changed her name to “bitter”
because of the experience. Now Naomi “aka
Grandma” had to make a decision. Stay
and lose everything including herself or shift gears and head to where family
lived. She chose family. She was kind enough to offer that option to her
two daughter-in-laws. The decisions were
made - one daughter-in-law decided to stay in “no man’s land” and the other
followed Naomi to family. The result of
Naomi’s wisdom was setting up a family line that would impact the world. “Wisdom
has built her house, ….” Prov 9:1.
Notice Wisdom is a “her” or should I say “aka Grandma”.
Coming from families deeply impacted by the “Great
Depression”, raised with the “nuclear war” fear and sure the end of the world
was soon, in the 1960s my husband and I lived with a wood stove and also had a
garden and orchard in a rural area away from our families. I froze and canned everything we could get
our hands on and cooked from scratch. The promise of this life was "sweet".
Then years followed serving those in needs around the US. We
answered JFK’s call – “Do not ask what your country can do for you but what you
can do for your country” and a Church’s message of get ready for the end of the
world. We lived in large cities such as Miami and Boston but we were still
following the Survival Mind Set. Then
back to living the Survival Dream with 40 acres, a log house, a shallow well, plenty
of wood to burn on the property and 30 minutes by car at 55 miles an hour to
the nearest store and gas station and 45 Minutes to a small town with a
hospital. Through these years we home
schooled, private schooled and public schooled our two boys. During all of this
time we lived away from our families in “no man’s land”.
The result was two sons moving to follow their dreams and us
left living alone in “no man’s land”. Reviewing our past choices we found the
result of our experience was “bitter”.
The boys' dreams were to help build the
Internet in the 1990s. IT was in the large cities. Fortunately this was near our extended
families. Wisdom finally took hold of us. We are slow learners it seems. We packed up to a midsize town near our sons
and their budding families. Today we are
helping our son raise his son, our only Grandchild [they live with us] and keep
close family ties to our other son.
The goal is to build and impact the future generation. Our extended families live within an hour of
us now. We can celebrate holidays and
life milestones together. We could bundle together if the economy gets worse or
if the very worst happens. Our goal is a
binding of families and being able to survive as a group if the need arises.
Living in “no man’s land” would leave us without the generational binding and
impact. Our sons want nothing to do with
“no man’s land” and Survivalist thinking.
Today we have a pasture full of cows across the street [not
ours – nice view though], a container garden and container orchard on our
minimum maintenance lot. We live with
lakes, streams and salt water within minutes around us. We are minutes from a farmer’s market, a
hospital, our favorite big box store and in a neighborhood of military serving
at the nearby military base. Our shelves are full of both canned and dried
food and water enough for six months. Yes, it is not enough to carry for years
but it is a good foundation for an emergency. We have emergency supplies for potential
disasters of our area as well.
I was able to match my husband’s two Masters with two MBAs. We both teach online and have helped
thousands and thousands of military and general population students reach their
goals of having good jobs to help build their families for the future
generation.
Last year I had 2 major surgeries and almost died. Living as a Survivalist so far from a
hospital I would be dead. Living with
Common Sense Planning I am alive helping raise up the next generation.
We did not just “wake up recently” about societal issues. We lived
in the “60s ” and a total of 3.5 decades as Survivalists or with the Survivalist
mind set. The result was “bitter”.
Today we chose to live
in our “60s” and beyond [the horizon of our end is within sight] as Common
Sense Planners building the future generation and turning our future
experiences into “sweet”.
Following Wisdom and
Common Sense Planning
“aka Grandma” with the Container Garden and
Container Orchard
