This new house we're renting is someone's summer vacation house, and the result is that it rather feels like being on a vacation. The view of the snow-covered pond out of the living room double sliding glass doors is spectacular, and there's just the right balance of our stuff and their stuff to make it feel both temporary and familiar. The girls think it's the greatest place ever which has helped to keep their spirits up, and I have finally just now sat still after unpacking the last of the boxes that we need in this time of waiting for our house to come to us. Vanilla candles are burning, chocolate chip cookie bars are cooling on the stove, and I'm enjoying a well-deserved glass of wine on this snowy Saturday.
The closing went perfectly on New Year's Eve, and the young couple that bought our sweet house were precisely as I had ordered them up from the Universe - sentimental, kind, enthusiastic, and positively smitten with the charm and possibility of their new House of Dreams. We left them the traditional gift of bread, wine, and salt (thank you, IAWL) which they appreciated, and after a whole bunch of signatures with the still sore arm I had used to scrub the house from top to bottom, it was done. The girls and I got some essentials at Walmart - trash barrels, throw pillows, candles, the DVD of Glee, and then we rang in 2010 with our dearest friends. I even stayed awake until midnight, which was definitely in question when the evening began. Amazing the energy that good company, excellent food, and rolicking karaoke will give even the most tired of souls.
I will say one more thing about moving out of our house...the amount of hard work it turned out to be was so much more than I could ever have expected. Patrick said that it felt like a gaping hole in the center of our house just kept spewing forth more and more stuff for us to pack, haul and store. We filled a dumpster, a storage space, a giant moving Pod, and most of the Saads back garage. And...our house is not that big, either. So. Much. Stuff. But at least we know that everything we brought with us was chosen to be important as we move forward in our life. We are not tethered by anything which no longer serves us.
I intend to set a number of resolutions for 2010, but for now, I will take this day to relax and recoup. Tomorrow, it will be visiting with family and editing my act one script, but today...it's wine, cookies, and Charlie's Angels Two.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
"But at least we know that everything we brought with us was chosen to be important as we move forward in our life. We are not tethered by anything which no longer serves us."
ReplyDeleteThis really resonates for me - maybe because it can (and should) apply to so much more than material possessions. A good thing to keep in mind. I know I often find myself holding on to things out of habit that I really have no use for.