We are redefining what "home" is. What does it mean? Is it the people, a place, your special things, your beloved cast iron skillet and cookbooks? Your TV room, your clothes? What is home? For about five years, my husband and I have been waiting. Waiting for the economy to recover (check), waiting for an apartment in the perfect building in Denver (check), and waiting for my stepson to be 18 (oops, not yet).
We've been a fan of the tiny house movement ever since visiting Europe. Things are smaller there. Houses, cars, lights, utilities, bathrooms, all of it. And your carbon footprint/energy usage matters as it relates to climate change. There is NO QUESTION in Europe. It is not a debate, it is accepted as scientific fact. Everyone in Europe is working to reduce consumption of fossil fuels. There are no plastic baggies, not at the grocery and not at the market. Your fruit market will gently wrap your fruit in paper and cardboard boxes. And it's beautiful. There are no plastic storage containers. You can get plastic film, but that's it. Most cars are not automatics and generally are very, very tiny.
Concurrently, we are expert travelers and we love adventures. We love new places to the extent that we moved 8 times in 8 years just within Denver! Each one had it's charms and it's irritations. We finally found the perfect Denver apartment. It is perfect because it reminds us of Europe. The train station next door, the lovely social commons area with shops and restaurants at Union Station, the intermodal transportation center downstairs and the free mall ride to get into even more of downtown Denver. The walking lifestyle and no car. We love it. But it's not Europe. Europe is Europe.
We had followed numerous blogs as well. A senior couple who sold it all and moved to France, doing Airbnb to see other European locations. They only had one that was a kerfluffle and they left after only two weeks because of damp and cold. There was also a New York Times article with a young couple testing out different areas of NYC before landing in a single apartment, also using Airbnb to test out neighborhoods. It was inspiring.
While going through all of these thoughts, we also lost some loved ones and had the flotsam and jetsam to deal with in the face of death. The things. All of the things. And we vowed not to put our kids through that. It was remarkable! I started a google spreadsheet and conversations and we soon had all the things assigned to the six (between us 4 of mine and 2 of his) kids. Soon I realized I can let go of some of these things immediately! Right now! And so the things began to migrate to their new homes over a year ago.
Then there was an election. I walked in to find my husband irate that Virginia hadn't been called yet. When that happened, he knew our worst nightmare was going to come true. And his son was still in high school spending week on/week off with two parents in Denver. He may or may not have overreacted just a tad that night:) "We're Moving!", he proclaimed as I walked in the door. Freaked me out a bit. Freaked the high schooler out even more.
We all calmed down. It was still a bit surreal. Votes kept coming in and we thought for sure the Electoral College would vote the will of the people. Nope. We got upset again, but less so than on election night. Either way, we feel our country will survive. It is strong, the people are strong and it will survive. But it did start the ball rolling on "the plan". We'd been tossing around this idea in some form or another for five years. We'd proved we could work from anywhere. Then, a week after the election, the high schooler says "I'm in". And onto online school he goes! He has permission to "audit" when he's here so that he'll have his social network. We got the seal of approval from his mom, then the school. Nothing is stopping us. We are proving that anything is possible!
Our last day here is Jan 23rd. You'd be amazed at how much travel you can have if you have no rent, no utilities except cell phones and can travel light. And home? As it turns out, it's my kitchen. The mixmaster, the food processor, the expensive knives, the slowly accumulated spices for several types of cuisines, Granny's cast iron skillet, my good Dutch Oven, and the cookbooks. So those items went to friends who will lovingly care for them and use them while we are gone, and they will return them if we return. And "home" then becomes eight households instead of one <3
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