I’ve been here a week. First, we lived in the Residence Inn, then moved to an apartment a few days ago. “It’s like camping,” my husband says. Or playing “house.”
In getting ready to move, I packed up my things – my shorts, my favorite tank tops and some t-shirts and jeans, several pairs of shoes, my travel bathroom supplies, and my pillows. I gathered my Bible and study, my electronics and knitting bag, my Kindle and some coloring pencils and books. I tried to guess what we would need for the next couple of months, and we loaded up the stuff and the kitty and drove from Florida to Virginia. We left our furniture and most of our belongings behind. We hope it won’t be long before our house there sells and we can settle in here.
In the meantime, the kitty and I will spend our days in this two bedroom apartment, while my husband works a few miles away. It’s a nice place, and feels very open and roomy. The furniture is sparse but comfortable.
I plan to use my time to explore the area, try to learn my way around town, and hike in the mountains once a week. I have little confidence that I will find a ladies’ Bible Study – they often break for the summer. Still I’ll look, maybe starting with churches where we might like to attend. I plan to write regularly – either blogging or personally – and hope to be disciplined about it! I’ll go to the pool, which doesn’t come close to the spa-pool of our old neighborhood, but is still sun and water.
I will try to engage with other people several days a week – at least to say “Hi” to someone besides kitty and husband. This may mean that I grocery shop every day, or find a local coffee shop – something to get out of the apartment and with others so I don’t isolate myself.
With very few of my own things, I feel like this is just pretend. I hate to spend money to buy household supplies I already have, but it’s funny to not have my stuff around me. This feels unfamiliar, even unreal. Like playtime, not my new life.
It causes me to stop and evaluate my relationship to “my things.” Firstly, I can see that I own too much stuff, since I only need what I have now. Secondly, nothing is mine – it all belongs to God, and is only on loan for me to use in the first place. So I’ll use this time, this opportunity, to test what is really important. It’s not stuff. It’s relationships. And the closest ones I have now are God and my husband. I guess that’s where I’ll spend my time and attention. I suspect that’s what God has in mind anyway.
Sunny with a Chance of Clouds 
I once told my mother we should move more often because it was the only time things were cleaned out. The funny thing is that now she still has boxes in her garage that “belong to” me and my sister, even though we haven’t seen the contents in twenty years.
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Funny! Ever wonder what’s inside?
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I’m pretty sure I packed up my social studies project from fifth grade in one of those boxes. Maybe some books I read about that time, but I really don’t know for sure – I should probably help her clean the garage this summer – maybe she could park inside.
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My folks don’t park in their garage either – but I’ve been through those boxes!
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What a great reminder that all we have belongs to God…..and we need so little of the ‘stuff’ we accumulate. Great post.
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Thank you.
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I know just what you’re talking about. All the best with this move, this new adventure.
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I thought about you as I was writing, and wondering how you did it, losing your “stuff” to fire. That’s a-whole-nother level.
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I have been thinking about you Peg. Glad you posted today so I could “hear” how its going. Hang in there. I would imagine it to be “freeing” to know you have what you really need and the rest is “stuff”. Keep writing!
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Thanks for the encouragement to write – I need to get back at it!
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Well, we didn’t lose our stuff, well not much of it, in the end, but what was funny was that I didn’t really care about the stuff once I could see that the family were safe. It has been quite a ride so far, not all of it fun – and no intervals, sadly. I’ve wanted to climb off this train a few times, let me tell you. But it’s also been amazing. You will be blessed. Less is definitely more !
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