We have officially started the downsizing process.
Our Sechelt house is rented and when we come up to visit and to do maintenance we’ll be staying in the back cabin.
As I was pounding a few nails in the walls to hang up our two towels, a couple of shirts and other basic cabin clothes, I found myself grinning like a crazy woman.
It reminded me of when we first moved to Sechelt in 1998; we had sold our 3800 sq ft home and, in a major downsizing, moved to our new seaside home, which was then a 625 sq ft cottage. It was perfectly derelict and the kind of place that encouraged sand on the rugs and nails bashed into the wall whenever I needed a place to hang a straw hat or a walking stick.
Time went by, and like coral, we accreted layers of stuff and expanded and grew…
First Kevin’s son moved in, we built the back cabin as a boy’s bedroom (pictured above), and then later, after he’d moved on, my nephew moved in. We added on to the main house; added another bathroom, another bedroom, another floor (!) painted and tiled, we acquired more clothes for when we went to the city.
More time went by and we found ourselves spending more of our time in our Vancouver apartment than here by the seaside.
So, now we’ve rented out the main house for most of 2013 and we’re back to our beginnings in the garden cabin. One pair of jeans, a few T-shirts, a hat for gardening and oh-my, I remember what I loved about this whole experience. Luckily, the renter is a lovely friend and we will occasionally visit so we can play in the dirt and do any maintenance that’s required.
It is all part of an experiment. We’re trying to figure things out. One thing seems apparent. We want to live smaller and are looking at downsizing the city apartment as well.
There are a few questions to consider. Should we stay in our apartment? Should we sell it and find something smaller? Are we even going to stay in the city? Or will we miss this place so much that we’ll leave the city for the seaside again? We don’t know and that is part of the beauty of this arrangement…the unknowingness.
Of course, some might call us flakes, but hey, we kind of like that particular label.
I used to feel the need for answers. Occasionally, I still wish I knew what we were doing. But as I grow older I’m finding it more interesting to set things in motion and watch the unfolding possibility of what might be. There might be a path we haven’t even considered.
Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to coming back to our new tiny patch of the world whenever we can.
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Super exciting! Can’t wait to see what unfolds. Plus, I love that little cabin …maybe I should create something like that here in Toronto…
There ya go Michele. Javier could knock one of those together in his sleep! It’s 8 x 12 so that we didn’t have to get a building permit. I’m already planning a little re-organizing/retrofitting to maybe take out the loft bed above. Kevin & I aren’t planning any friends to sleep above our heads any time soon!
I like that “… letting go of the need to know.” Awesome. We fool ourselves into believing we really DO need to know – and I think it’s far more exciting not knowing what’s next for me.
Let’s chat soon!
Gwen. It’s true. I have been thinking for so many years that I needed to definitely KNOW. Years ago, my counsellor/therapist said try to live the question, Colleen. I thought she was nuts. Didn’t she know I needed to know exactly what was going to happen next? Then I started trying it, little bits at a time and it turns out she wasn’t crazy at all – or maybe now we both are!
Colleen, I am ever amazed at your ability to transform your life -yourself – so easily. I look forward to taking your lead one day and taking each day as it unfolds. I can’t even begin to explain the admiration I have for the way you see (and live) life. Kudos to you, my friend. Love watching your days unfold through this blog and hope that we will cross paths again very soon. XO
Gwen. I think I have misled you! It does not come that easily. There is tons of journal-filled angst and trepidation so, that although what I finally put out on this blog might sound like we just acted decisively, we in fact, have been vascillating and flipping and flopping as to what the path should be.
The easy part is when I/we finally let go of the need to know. That was truly a relief, and now this latest plan is just a way of putting it all off in the hopes that something will reveal itself.
All that aside, I want to thank you for the vote of confidence. It makes it feel like we’re doing something right, and yes, our paths will cross again soon…I feel it.
Love todays post! Sooo excited for you guys and can’t wait to hear where this path leads you next!!
Hey Sarah, I’m excited too, though there are days that I look at everything we don’t know and wonder WTH? Luckily those moments pass and I am mostly in a state of being curious as to what will happen next. I think it’s good to keep myself guessing!
I dream of downsizing from our 1908 Minneapolis home to a small condo or townhouse near the light rail so that we might get by with one car. On our little patch up north I dream of slightly upsizing from two shed-sized structures to one small complete cabin with running water (perhaps even a toilet). If I could wave a magic wand, half of our belongings would simply vanish… except the books.
Hey Sarah Stonich…I remember reading about a couple in California who lost everything in a fire. Their house and all their possessions burned to ash. They said that after the initial shock they both felt a huge relief that they had finally got free of all their stuff. They took the money, bought an RV and hit the road. Sounded like fun to me. It’s a trick finding the right balance…