Yes, it’s the end of the (school) year, so the “in retrospect” posts are coming fast and furious as things wind up (and as D. gets tired of carrying about all the camera gear as well as his laptop). Today, here, D. is off to have his “end of year review,” wherein he has to give a presentation & then accept criticism about what he’s done this entire year. He considers it a prelude to the “viva” examination next year, but with a time limit (thankfully).
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So, 3 years ago we didn’t know that we’d be selling everything we owned to leave the country. We were happily baking olive bread (some of which D. baked just last week), having a new heater installed in the flat (we only wish that a new boiler would be installed in this flat, rather than us having to reset the thing periodically – so much for that wooden spoon). We were settling into our condo in Benicia, California. We’d planted our amaryllis in a wonderfully large pot outside the front door, we had replaced all of the floors, we’d removed the asbestos (!!!) from the heating system, and were seriously preparing to stay indefinitely.
So. What changed?
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Well … we threw it all away. We packed our things into 225 cubic feet of shipping space, selling everything else. We sold or gave it all away, packing away certain beloved things (teddy bears, pillows, kitchen implements – you know) to be shipped overseas, to the land of the Scots.
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It hasn’t made a difference to our lives, really. What, you say? Well, what did we do before we left?! T. wrote books – and still does – and D. did some computer programming and whatever else took his fancy. Now we’re settled onto … the same things, except that “whatever else took his fancy” is carried away with “doing a PhD.”
Except that, well, it really has changed our lives. We live in a completely different world over here. It’s been enlightening.
As I’ve stated previously, Life is Life regardless of the zip code. However, that aside, your simple decision to do this is inspiring.