Off the Grid

Sometimes you just need to go off the grid.

Sometimes you find yourself longing for the chance to kind of run away…drop out of sight.

Sometimes you don’t even realize how much you were longing for wide open spaces until you suddenly find yourself surrounded by 14,000 acres of them.

Sometimes you need to feel connected to the past and be reminded that everything doesn’t begin and end with you.

And that quiet, true quiet is like no other kind of therapy.

Sometimes you need to not even have the option of checking emails or texts or facebook because there’s no cell service or WiFi.

Sometimes you need to see your kids so excited to collect eggs that you would have thought they were going on a ride at Disneyland.

And marvel at them like they are the very first eggs ever hatched.

Sometimes it’s worth getting up very early (way earlier than one should be getting up while on vacation!) just so your kids can have the opportunity to bottle-feed calves and you can catch a glimpse of the sheer joy on their faces.

Sometimes you need to make new friends and hear their stories. You need to marvel at the determination of a young woman who started out washing dishes in the kitchen and wound up being the ranch manager.

And while you’re at it marvel at her patience as she tried to teach your children about horses.

Sometimes you need to see your daughter take to those horses like she’d been around them her entire life and then start coming up with ways to convince your husband that he really doesn’t want to be a Pharmaceutical rep after all but would rather be a rancher instead.

And sometimes you watch in awe as your son waits sooooooo patiently for that first nibble on his fishing line.

Sometimes you need to document the gutting of a fish because you can’t believe that the same child who’s been known to get skittish watching his sister blow her nose is happily cutting the head off the fish he just caught and examining it’s eyeballs.

And you feel so thankful that your dad is the one teaching him how to do this and not you.

Sometimes just the sight of your husband lying on the dock with his legs dangling off the edge into the cool water means more to you than your own relaxation because you know just how badly he needs this moment of peace.

Sometimes the peels of laughter coming from the wrestling match happening in the next room will remind you once again how very grateful you are to have parents who will come ‘off the grid’ with you just so they can get this time with their grandchildren and make memories to last a lifetime.

The thing is, sometimes you just need to…’be’.

With no deadlines, nowhere we have to go.

No appointments we have to keep…except for the one with a fishing pole.

Going ‘off the grid’ gives you a chance to reconnect with your surroundings, with the ones you love and well…yourself.

And sometimes you don’t even realize just how badly you needed those moments until you are actually in them.

Sometimes you go ‘off the grid’ and find yourself awfully close to paradise right here on earth!

Thank you to Steve and Karen (and Larissa!) of Aspen Ridge Ranch Resort  for providing the backdrop for this unforgettable adventure.