I was on my evening stroll along the Umpqua River recently when it hit me… we’re soon to be homeless! Truly and honestly without a home, and by choice! What craziness have we embarked upon?
In less than a month we’ll be leaving Roseburg, our city for the last 21 years, and heading off to seek adventures abroad. We decided early on to sell the house and take very little with us. So very little, in fact, that we’re trying to pull this off with only one checked bag between the two of us, and carry on luggage for each of us.
Downsizing forty years of joint accumulation is a daunting task, but we’re determined AND creative. Neither one of us is very attached to “things,” so finding other homes for our treasures isn’t rough on us. Except…for family treasures such as Brian’s artwork, Bethany’s ballet videos, Andrew’s stories, and anything to do with my mom. Thankfully, we have excellent foster homes for our treasures.
Andrew and Amelia flew up from SoCal, pointed at stuff they wanted, loaded it in a U-Haul and headed back home with some “priceless treasures.” My sister is babysitting my bike and who knows what else. Bethany and family have agreed to be our no-cost “storage unit.” My neice is housing our yard and garden supplies. Craigslist, garage sales and Facebook Marketplace have helped us unload worldly goods while making a bit ‘o cash. Friends have dibs on kitchen supplies, couches, etc.
Garage sales, Goodwill, friends, family, and the dump. That’s how you whittle 40 years in to 3 bags.
We won’t be completely done with our”homework” until the day we pull away from the house with our remaining worldly goods. But each day’s task gets us closer to having that big, huge assignment completed.
Go With Me, Kiddos
Pretend you are going with me š. You can only take two bags. One is a bigger one that you check: You give it to an airline worker and they load it in the plane. Your smaller bag goes with you on the plane. What do you take with you? Why did you choose those items? Are there any items you leave behind for someone you trust to take care of?
Your response can be in informative essay form, an illustrated book or whatever creative mode you’d like to share with me.
Teachers… Feel free to share your students’ work. Make sure their names are not on their published work, though.
Until next time…
Go With Me!
GoWithMe 
Love your blog, Susan. š
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Thanks, Angie. In looking forward to when we’re actually travelling and things get interesting.
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What an amazing challenge. Though I am good at traveling light, I am in reality, a pack rat. A life long collector of things. I have always used family heirlooms, books, art…as touchstones…to create my feeling of home. To get to bare bones, the way you two are, right now, I would totally fail. We are working very very hard to whittle our life down from this huge old New England farmhouse, to begin anew this summer in the right-sided lovely home you are leaving. I think of all the reasons people travel light…by choice..by circumstance. This post gives me a lot to think about.
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Well, time will tell if shrugging off our worldly goods was a good idea, or not! š Thanks for reading and commenting.
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