Your Courageous Life

had to share…

We are moving our things out of storage this upcoming weekend–wowza–and theoretically, we’ll start to unpack even though we still have some time left at this house-sit and we’ll be sleeping here for a while longer, feeding the cats, making sure things are locked up nice and tight (and having the benefit of a more relaxed moving process, we hope!). By Thursday of next week, we’ll be completely and totally back into our new place.

I’m really excited to be moving back to Alameda, which has always felt like “home,” and which I’ve missed dearly since we began house-sitting early this year.

But it was good for us to take this time. We got away from a housing situation that wasn’t working for us, saved money, traveled, explored other neighborhoods. I fell completely and totally in love with a kitty that I’m already feeling incredibly sad about leaving–we’re talking, I tear up when I look at her and imagine how next week, I’ll get home and she won’t be there and that’s just heartbreaking so I don’t want to think about it–but there is still the slimmest of slight possibilities that her owner will get back and decide that it would be okay to give her to us. [[ cross your fingers with me, please! ]]

House-sitting has also given us the benefit of this beautiful sky, which I had to share (nope–no Photoshop here, I promise). Our current house-sit is in Kensington, the hilly area above Albany, California. This bazillion dollar view was just one of the treats of this space. In the mornings I would watch as the fog burned off or I’d have the inside track on whether or not it would be a hot day, because any day where there’s no fog in the morning in the Bay Area is probably a warmer day! The sunsets would just astonish me. I’d walk through the kitchen or happen to look out the window and then–WOW–stop whatever I was doing to just go outside and quietly stare at the sky as daylight sank into night.

I’ve appreciated this time to get away from all of my “stuff” when we packed it into the storage unit. I just wanted a new, fresh start. There is a part of me that wonders how much I will keep once we start unloading boxes this weekend. After all of this moving and traveling, I find very little use for hanging on to things, and knowing that anything I bought would put me in the position of needing to store it or haul it has certainly curbed whatever tendencies I might have previously had for hoarding (I mean, I’m not much of a tchotchke buyer to begin with, but still). 

I’ve appreciated the opportunity to see both how I wanted to live and how I didn’t want to live. To live in someone’s home is to get a window into their lives. Perhaps if some part of me had ever wondered if I would want a house tucked away in the hills or given that thought any romantic energy, it seems to be disavowed for now–it’s seriously far more of a pain in the booty to tack an extra 20 minutes of commuting onto even the most random of errands than it’s worth to me at this point in my life (Basically, I’d rather commute out to the retreat area rather than living out there!).

And I’ve also learned–Andy concurs with this–that there is value in saving up money to purchase the home furnishings/looks that we really value, rather than getting something cheap from IKEA because it’s not expensive and sorta-kinda-mostly fits the bill. One of the houses that we stayed in was just so beautiful and perfectly put together, and it was evident that real care and investment had gone into getting quality items and creating a home, and I admired that immensely.

Fear is coming up, too. I mean, it’s crazy to think that these housing choices are made based on, basically, 20-30 minutes of walking through a place, tops. Will the place be too small, and we didn’t realize that when we were there because there was no furniture, and we’ll get in and hate how cramped it feels? Will there be some loud garage band next door that we just aren’t aware of yet? An infestation of ants underneath the house, just waiting for some nice new person to move in so they can take over the cereal supply? Drug dealers on the corner?

Okay, so this is sort of laughable–I don’t really think most of the fears I’ve had could really happen (okay, except for the too small fear and the garage band fear), but you can see where the “disaster planning” side of me wants to go with this. It’s taking a lot to reign things in!

And in addition to all of this, there is teaching and feeling far more distracted than I can ever remember feeling, my hoarse voice that hasn’t recovered fully in part because I keep talking (go figure), and getting The Courageous Year and Your Courageous Life going. I am sending out goody packets to people who want to help spread the word about what I’m doing–one part postcards to drop off at your local coffee shop when you head out for coffee (or your office, yoga studio, etc.), and another part free, fun greeting cards that I’m gifting people with because I’m so grateful. (If you want me to send you a packet, email me with your address and I’ll give you the hookup: kate -at- thiscourageouslife -dot- com).

And I’m sending a letter to each and every Courageous Year participant (crossing my fingers that they get to the international folks), but I won’t say much more about that because, you know, I want it to be a surpriiiiise.

And of course, there’s the Keri Smith giveaway going on here (ends 10pm Pacific on 10/28…)

There is so much going on that I am excited for two weeks from now, when I predict we’ll be packed and snuggled into our new home, and at least this will be one massive transition off of the checklist!