A friend told me once that the problem with living off the beaten path is that just the mechanics of living took all his time.

His plan was to write a book while he was removed from the hectic pace he had set for himself in town. He said that by 8:00 at night (actually, he said 6:00 *G*) he was ready for bed and had no energy for thinking. In that whole year and a half, he wrote about three chapters- and two of those chapters he wrote at one sitting.

On the other hand, just living is what it all boils down to, no matter where you are so if life means getting up at 4:00 AM to start the fire so that you can go about your business by 7:00, I guess that is what you do.

My point is that spending your time alonside your spouse and your kids in hands-on work to support yourself and your lifestyle is more rigorous, certainly, than getting up at 5:00 in order to be at the office by 7:30 so you can get home by 5:00 to get dinner and talk with your kids and your spouse so you can be in bed by 9:00 but it is not necessarily less satisfying.