Let us talk for a bit about a word that doesn’t get used very often in our household in Alaska. But before I dig into the word and provide some examples of how the word is being played out in my daily Missouri existence, I have to put a disclaimer out there for our readers. I am currently working on finishing articles and edits for our monthly newsletter and monthly video, both will be published on the 1st of February for paid subscribers. And I am knee-deep in working on the second book, which has been an emotional grappling match. With all of that being said, I don’t have a lot of energy to fine-tune this article, but I will do my best and leave it at that.

Convenience: “The state of being able to proceed with something with little effort or difficulty.” Another definition states: “A quality or situation that makes something easy or useful for someone by reducing the amount of work or time required to do something.”

Ever since we’ve been in Missouri the main thing that has stood out in contrast to our off-grid, rural life in Alaska has to do with convenience, both Inside and outside of the home. Everything seems easier here when compared to what we are used to, and everything seems to take less time, too. And while it is certainly gratifying and validating to have enough time and energy each day to achieve one-hundred million things instead of one hundred things, I miss the physical and mental challenges that come with having to work for things as seemingly simple as heat, water, food, and electricity. But while we are still here, I will continue to take full advantage of the endless conveniences that present themselves from sunup to sundown.

Savanna’s mother is currently renting a house that is a ten minute walk from Wal-mart, a two minute drive from two other grocery stores, a one minute bike ride to Ace Hardware, a one mile bike ride to an AA, a stone’s throw from O’Reilly’s Auto Parts, a three minute drive to a playground and park, a twelve minute drive to downtown Kansas City, and somewhat centrally located in the United States. It takes me fifteen minutes to run to the grocery store for fresh cilantro or .69 cent avocados to put on our tacos for dinner. Any item that we’re missing for a meal, BOOM! run to the store. If you don’t like the Hy-vee brand, go to Wal-mart. If you want less expensive, head over to Aldi’s. It is such a change from back home where we drive 60 miles to Soldotna once or twice a month to stock up on groceries. Let’s not even talk about icy road conditions! The fresh ingredients we receive in the winter time in Alaska don’t even compare to what we are buying here now.

Do you want Chinese food? Mexican? Indian? All within a twenty minute drive. Do you want world-class BBQ? Fried catfish? Pizza? All within a five minute drive. Did I mention that my mother-in-law works at a world famous BBQ restaurant in KC and she brings home boxes and boxes of food every time she works that feeds me and the family for days? I have eaten more red meat in the last month than in the last two or three years easy! Oh, you don’t feel like mowing your lawn or raking up your leaves? There are hundreds of people around here who will do it for you for a minimal charge. You don’t feel like changing the oil in your car? Valvoline will have it done in ten minutes for the low cost of $130. Are you and your kids tired of playing at the neighborhood playground? No problem, there are dozens around, just take your pick. Did you break your charger for your MacBook? No problem, order one online and it will be there tomorrow. Don’t have any training underwear for your toddler who is sleeping without a pull-up? No problem, the thrift store across the street has a half dozen pairs. Need a bike for your daughter because she’s dying to ride? No sweat, the thrift store across the street is fresh out, but the thrift store fifteen minutes away has the perfect bike with training wheels for $19.99. Are you doing some home-improvement projects? Great! Of course, we have Home Depot, but we also have two other large stores that provide all of your home building and landscaping needs for less money. Gas stations charge around $2.69 per gallon of unleaded, a price I haven’t seen in years.

Do you want to go for a nice drive? Well… do you feel like going north, south, east, or west? How far do you want to go? You can reach New Mexico in 12 hours, Florida in 8, the Pacific Ocean in a day, and two other countries in less than a day. You don’t feel like taking the highways or interstates, take the backroads. They’re more scenic anyways and less speedy. Do you like riding motorcycles? You’ve found the place. Flat, dry land for hundreds of miles in every direction with great weather to ride in the early spring and late fall. Oh, you don’t feel like going for a long drive because you have young kids… That’s cool. Drive 45 minutes to the International Airport and catch a quick flight to Mexico or Europe for a fraction of the cost you’ll pay from Alaska.

And how about the subject that affects every Alaskan on a regular basis. Weather. Well, I have heard people say that Missouri has similar weather to Alaska, some even say that Missouri has colder weather and harsher winters than Alaska. While I do not have any experience with Missouri winters other than this one, I am assuming that folks who believe those facts are comparing the harshest Missouri winters on record to the mildest Alaskan winters in the Southeast part of the state. Because let me tell ya, we arrived to Kansas City on January 20th, and what we left behind was 3 weeks of negative temperatures followed by more than a foot of wet snow, followed by icy temperatures that danced right around freezing. Nothing abnormal for our part of Alaska this time of year. What we arrived to was a single day of snow that left less than an inch on the ground. (The cousins sledded in the backyard.) It was followed by an evening of icy rain that canceled school the next morning. Ever since then, it’s been in the mid-50s and 60s every…single…day. How convenient is that! Oh, do you have kids that NEED to get out some damn energy like we do? Here you go kids, put on your tennis shoes and a fleece and go outside. You’re overheating? Go ahead and take your fleece off, and your shoes. That’s fine! Talk about an easy way to wear out the kids and have fun outside. When back home it takes ten minutes to find all of the damn gear they need to wear, fifteen minutes to put it on them, and then they only want to be outside for thirty minutes before they’re cold and bored because they can barely walk, and then it takes fifteen minutes to get the gear back off and all you have are disappointed kids and parents and a mess of wet clothes to hang dry by the wood stove.

We visited a former employer of Savanna’s out on their farm in Independence, Missouri. They currently provide weekly CSA boxes to 250 families in the area. Let’s not even start talking about the fact that I talked with folks yesterday who were turning prepping their community garden beds in Grandview, or the fact that nurseries are starting to sell their fruit and vegetable starts. (If I were to say that Savanna and I haven’t had some heartfelt discussions about the possibilities of growing food 10 months out of the year right here in Missouri… I’d be lying).

And that leads me to the conveniences inside the home.
The other day my mother-in-law, Cynthia, (who I refer to as ‘Grandma’ in writing,) heard me talking about how incredible it would be to wake up in the morning and have a fresh pot of coffee that was already brewed for me. I mentioned in the same conversation how I grew up in a household that always had a pot of rice on the counter that we could eat from anytime we were hungry. The very next day she went to the store and bought a coffee maker that you can set and a rice cooker. Let me tell ya, in my thirty-nine years on this earth I have never had the experience of using a pre-set coffee maker. I had no idea what I was missing!

From waking up to the smell of coffee pre-made to endless electricity without the need to monitor battery levels. From doing dishes with a waterfall of hot water-pressure or a dishwasher to being free from maintaining, operating, and troubleshooting a generator. From turning up the thermostat a few degrees to running a bath at 10 am and having the kids outside and playing at 10:30. From putting a load of clothes in the washer and dryer without thinking about the watts used to using a damn toaster for the first time in years because our generator won’t even power one. From having a large enough house where kids can play in one room and leave their toys on the ground for later, and I can go into another room to work on the computer without being bothered or in their way at all. From having an open kitchen where my dear wife and I can cook together, do dishes together, dance together, and eat together without feeling like we are in each other’s way.

What we have discovered is this. Because the conveniences “reduce the amount of work or time needed to do something” we have more time to play with our kids, to work on writing, beading, and other endeavors, and to visit with family. And we spend less time doing chores, even though we are doing many of the same chores– with the time being cut in half.

Of course there are drawbacks to the conveniences, too, not all that glitters is gold. The city seems to grow trash like flowers! The endless roar of automobiles, sirens, sound systems, and other human created devices echo from the neighborhood all day and night. Not a moment goes by in silence. Liquor stores and pot shops are on every street. Homeless people with signs can buy whatever they need for next to nothing. Sirens can be heard all day and night. Gunfire, too. Shootings, violence, rapes, homicides (like the Kansas City Chiefs Parade shooting.) Emasculation. (Why buy tools and try to do things yourself when somebody else can do it?) Excessive consumerism and the effects of low-prices on producers and planet. Isolation and loneliness may be the result of the violence. And last but not least, laziness. I can’t speak for anybody else, but I haven’t lifted more than a pack of Oreos in a month. Seriously. I squeeze in a few push-ups and pull-ups at playgrounds, and I walk behind the kids when they ride their bikes. But it is nothing like splitting wood, shoveling snow, carrying feed and water to animals, and the movement from chore to chore that happens back home.

Tomorrow, I will smile when I wake up to the smell of coffee in the air. I will smile when I brush my teeth in front of a clean mirror with warm water and sit on a toilet seat inside a warm bathroom. I will smile when I play outside in shorts and a tee-shirt with my daughters and wife. I will smile when I pour a glass of cold water from the tap and set it in the washing machine when it’s empty. And I will smile when at the end of the day, I can lie down in bed with one of my daughter’s and know that in a few weeks we will be back home in Alaska just as spring starts to roll around and we can play outside in our fenced yard without worrying about cars, predators, and shooters. I will reach into our off-grid freezer and pull out a chicken that we raised and harvested, and Savanna will roast it in our propane oven while I heat up water on the wood-stove to take a sponge bath before bed. I will smile at the thought of pooping while watching the ducks quack from their home and snow melt from spruce branches, and how excited Primrose will be to pee outside again after begging us to pee in Grandma’s yard all month. I will smile knowing that we will be walking on the beach as a family again with our dogs by our side, and we will collect driftwood to build a fire and sit together on a log with only the sounds of the ocean and the voices of our loved ones.