A question for both of you: Did you learn anything new about each other from your time up there in the cabin? And what did you each learn about yourself?
Charlie: Jen?
Jen: Okay, well, I can say what I learned about Charlie is that he's very capable in that situation. When I knew him almost 30 years ago, we lived at the bottom of the mountain, on the lake, it was a different place. We were kids practically. So seeing him off the grid, I mean, he really knows how to handle a lot of situations, and that impressed me. That was something I learned about him.
What I learned about myself is that I am also capable [of doing] things if I set my mind to it as well. I feel like it was a positive thing for me in my life to, all of a sudden, have this abrupt change of course. I had zero plan of this being on my radar in any way, shape, or form — the idea of living in that way, it never crossed my mind. Being open to it, I think that I am actually more open than I thought I might have been, to different things that are completely out of my sphere of experience or understanding, or even thought I would be a part of in any way.
Charlie, what about you? What did you learn about yourself and about Jen from this?
Charlie: I wanted to be as gentle as I could be with Jen, and I found out that I was capable of doing that [for her] needs and what her expectations might be ... it was almost like counseling, to find out how I was going to handle helping her adapt. I had made changes to the cabin and done some stuff to, I guess, spice it up a little bit.
Jen ... [is] tough as nails, and she'll face her fears, and she commits to everything. When she makes a commitment, she's going to go through with it. So far, in this experience, she's handled everything well. It's made me see that some of the things she's asked me, made me want to live more off the grid and tackle those real big dreams I always had of having a modern-type house lifestyle [but] completely off the grid. If everything fell out, we could live comfortably and have [the] paintings we have on the wall that we want, besides just having an outside toilet. She's taught me that.
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