Recently, the calendar turned another page, marking the quiet passage of my latest birthday. This day, often painted in colors of celebration and transformation, passed with an unanticipated stillness. My birthday has just come and gone, but surprisingly, the event left my life remarkably unchanged. I’d been harboring this sense, this vague premonition that the

Living off the grid would certainly be a radical change from the life we know, but it could also be an incredibly enriching and enlightening experience. Here’s how I imagine it: Our mornings would start with the break of dawn, with the chirping of birds as our alarm clock. We would begin the day with