The End of an Era
Yesterday, the movers came. They wrapped and packed. They lifted and carried. I watched as they carefully loaded my studio equipment into the truck, not knowing how long it will be until I get to unwrap the boxes and sit at my workbench again.
Just after sunset they drove away with most of our belongings. Strangely, I felt this sense of ease and calm descend. They were removing all the things that we’ve been moving and shuffling around for the last couple years. I didn’t have to worry about these things for the time being. Glorious.
As I felt this sense of relief I realized it was because almost everything we owned was now in one place. I didn’t have to feel scattered any more. We had a new plan in place, and it was moving forward.
See, three years ago we remodeled our house and started renting it. We moved from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara for what we thought was a permanent change. It didn’t work out that way.
Nine months later we bought a 40’ fifth wheel and a giant pickup to haul it around and we moved into an RV. Now some of our belongings were in our RV, some stored in Santa Barbara, most of our furniture in our rental house, and some boxes at my Mom’s.
We were spread out all over the place and for the next year and a half we bounced around from location to location in between work demands. While many people said we were living the dream, it just didn’t feel that way. Unexpectedly, I ended up feeling a little lost without a central home base..
Fast-forward to now, we’ve sold our beloved house that we’ve lived in for the last twelve years. It was the first place where my husband and I lived together. It was also the first and only place I lived in in Los Angeles after moving here from Wisconsin. Casa Lopez (yes, we named our house) was the first house we remodeled together. In the end we had turned it in to something really special. We will miss it immensely.
Now we’ve got a few weeks of staying with my Mom, before we move into our RV for a few months. In the new year, we’ve got a big adventure coming up. I’ll share more about our move as things crystalize. For now it’s time to take a breather and move into the start of the holiday season with a little lightness.