When I was still in grade twelve, I decided I’d had enough of living at home. Both my older sisters were gone. I was alone with my parents and oh-so-done with religion and rules.
Along with two girlfriends, we found a rental of an upper floor of a house. We convinced the poor man living in his basement that it would be fine with us above him, and just like that, we had a place to live.
I went home and announced to my mother that I was moving out. She was upset. Crying, she phoned my dad at work. What, she asked, what should she do? Later I found out his three-word answer: help her pack.
That still makes me smile.
I didn’t have much to take – my waterbed and some clothes. Mom gave me a wooden table for our kitchen and we had a lawn chair for our living room.
Today I decided to add up the number of times I/we have moved. I’m not sure if I missed any. Did I add in one too many of those moves I made back home whenever I was stuck between places? Or maybe I missed some?
Whenever I came back home, I never stayed long. I’d tasted what being on my own was like. Besides, my parents were pretty smart. Their room and board charges were a strong incentive to keep moving. I’m sure they wanted me out as badly as I wanted to leave.
For awhile I think I moved every five months. After that first upstairs rental in West Heights, the three of us moved to a little house on Cedar Valley Road, then I moved from there to be on my own in a little garage-converted-to-a-tiny-house. I got really good at making a place look like home in a hurry. Mostly I lived on my own. Sometimes I had roommates, some good, some disastrous.
There was an order to my moves. The stereo was always the last to be moved out and the first thing to be hooked up. Slowly, as I acquired more stuff, the moves took more than just filling my car. Pretty soon they involved borrowing a pick-up truck, and later, a U-Haul.
When Kevin and I built our house in Mission, we stayed there ten years and acquired more and more things to fill all that space. And then, when we moved to our tiny cottage in Sechelt we gave most of it away.
Once in Sechelt, we added on another story and expanded the floor space and slowly filled it up with garage sale finds.
During the fifteen years we lived in that house, we always kept an apartment for our part-time life in Vancouver. Sometimes it was a rental, sometimes it was a place we owned, but we kept moving between those too.
It’s almost been five years since we sold our Sechelt place and moved into Vancouver full-time. And now it’s been 1 1/2 years since we downsized from that Vancouver life so we could travel in our trailer on our cross-Canada trip.
After we finished that trip and parked the trailer in October 2017, we moved to a small furnished rental in Roberts Creek.
And then this past June we moved to our furnished townhouse in Sechelt. We’ve been here for just over six months, though for more than half of that time we’ve been gone on various trips.
This June we’re going to be moving again. We’ve decided to try living in Kimberley, BC. We don’t have much of a plan except to see how we like it. I’ve always lived in the coastal rainforest and never lived in place with a real winter, so it could be interesting.
It looks like we’ll probably find an unfurnished house so I imagine we’ll have to find some furniture again. But that’s what thrift stores are for and wherever we end up, it won’t take long until I make it look like we’ve lived there forever.
Practise baby, practise.
The statistics I found say that the average American moves 11.4 times over their life. I couldn’t find the Canadian stats but I imagine they’re fairly close. Until I made this list, I hadn’t really paid any attention to the numbers – but now I know. When we pack up to go up to Kimberley, this will be my 33rd move.
I’m not sure if that makes me an above-average kind of gal or some kind of freak.
How often have you moved? I’d love to hear your stories.
I was born in Senegal and stayed there until I was one year old, then we went to live my maternal grand-parents in Vichy for a few months. We moved to Bois-Colombes, a commune in the Hauts de Seine, 9 km North West of Paris, we stayed there until 1954, then we moved to Versailles, I left in my 20’s to move to the West Midlands, in England with my boyfriend. We live first in a very small attic apartment, then we moved in a house not far from the centre of the town. In 1983 we bought our actual house and we’ve never moved, but for last 10 years we spend 4 months of the year in our house in South West France.
Wow. That’s a lot of geographical change Catherine. I love that you spend some of your time in France. That sounds lovely.
Like you, I decided in Grade 12 that I’d had enough of living at home and was done with religion, rules and poverty. I was off to find my fortune in the big city.
Over the next 3 years there were 9 moves. I started off alone in an apartment for girls in a red brick building at Bute & Georgia (still there). After 2 weeks I got a job at UBC and moved up to a penthouse at Davie & Jervis. Then a friend from Abbotsford needed a place so we moved to an apt in Kits. Soon we had to find bigger digs because her cousin wanted to join us. That cousin became my best friend and we gathered others in subsequent moves. At one time we were 8 living in a house at 13th & Arbutus, but then our numbers dwindled so it was back to apartment living at 3rd & Maple among the hippies.
When I broke up with a boyfriend, I convinced my best friend to go on 2-week Hawaiian holiday. We each put down a $50 deposit, but her mother convinced her to back out. Not me, boy, I was going somewhere … and who wastes $50!
An Aussie travel agent talked me into selling my VW bug and using $1,500 savings for a trip around the world. Nine months later I was on the Oriana bound for Sydney, where I temped for 5 months, before sailing to England on the Iberia.
In London, I was met by the parents of a former roommate, who invited me to stay with them in Reading for 3 months. They lived in a university sponsored house where she ran the Commissary and he did electrical work by day and ran a student pub at night. I had fun helping out and was also a part-time nanny for their 5 yr old son.
On one of my day trips to London, I saw an ad posted in BC House by a nurse from Vancouver looking for a travel companion. She was my age and it was so good to hear a familiar voice. A month later we set off on a 6-week hitchhiking tour of Europe and then a month in Scotland.
When my mother died, I traded in my ticket home via the Panama for an airline ticket. I lived in Abbotsford with dad for a few months before moving back to Vancouver. My best friend had married so I lived with my sister and another roommie for a year. Then I married Bob, who I’d dated for 6 months before my travels began.
After getting married, our first home was an apt at 1st & Maple. In 1969 we bought a house — never moved. Here ends my moving tale. Total: 15.
Mennonites have migration in their DNA, Colleen. No wonder. My moves are in the 23 or so range too. — (Hey, why not consider Tsawwassen for your move after Kimberley? I need a third person for a writing group. :))
Ha. Thanks for the out loud ladylike snork Dora. I like how you think. Save that spot, I just might show up.
But maybe you’re onto something with the Menno migration thing. Perhaps my DNA still feels like it needs to flee. Epigenetics would probably agree…
Ten moves if you include living in Europe for a year on exchange. Been in Chilliwack for 20 years and no desire to leave. Yet.
AnneLise, I like the qualifying ‘yet’????
And yes, I’d suggest living in Europe for a year would be considered one of the biggest moves of all.
I’ve only moved 5 times. From Senegal to France where I moved on to a flat in the Paris region, then to another flat in Versailles where I lived for 20 years. Then a big move to England where my husband and I lived in a tiny attic flat for 2 years, a house for 7 years and now we have lived in our present house for 34 years. I think if we move again it will be either in France or in the beautiful county of Shropshire.
Catherine, you said it was a big move to England from France, but it sounds like they were all big moves. Africa to Europe is a pretty large leap, even if the language is the same. France to England is another huge cultural shift. I can see why you’d cozy into your house for the last 34 years though it’s also wonderful that you’re keeping two other options as possibilities. Both of them sound fabulous.
I love moving! The challenge of changing a space to suit your needs, and putting your personal touch on it, is always my favorite. We were at 6 houses in 10 yrs… We’ve been at our new place for two years, so that’s pretty good, right? ????
Looking at your record, we’ve got some catching up to do! Kimberly sounds beautiful. We will have to come for a visit!
Ha! Maybe it’s genetic Lisa?
It’s been two years already? Must be time!
You’re right about changing the space. The part I love is that each place forces me to respond in a different way. It’s like someone else started the canvas and I have to work with what they started and make it mine.
And yes, you’ll definitely need to come for a visit and check it out.
I’m about to embark on my 6th move, then in a year, 7th. I plan to not do my eighth for a good 20-25 years. I was born and raised in Ontario, then to Saskatchewan in my 20’s and now to BC. The pattern for me obviously is to continue the migration west. The important thing when we move is to always bloom where we are planted.
Hey Bev. I think moving out of province must count as double or something.
It was such a lovely bit of luck to meet you in Revelstoke while we were on our RPod tour.
You are actually one of my inspirations for making this move. I loved seeing how excited you were to make the leap from Saskatchewan to BC. I figure, we’re not doing anything that big…as we’re still in the same province.
I’m so far off the average it’s crazy. I’m 61 and I’ve only lived in 4 places, all of them within 20 miles of each other.
BUT, pondering a very big move in the near future, I’ll keep you posted.
Oh Becca, that sounds so wonderfully relaxing to have only moved four places.
I can’t wait to find out what the very BIG move is going to be. Enquiring minds need to know!
You’re above average in many ways Colleen.
You’ve got me beat by a long shot – I count 15.
Ha. Apparently so are you 🙂 Thanks for adding to the conversation Liz.
I have a sneaking suspicion I might be on the freaky side of the list. It’s funny how I hadn’t really thought of comparing it to the ‘norm’ before. It’s a little surprising.