Time To Chill

It's official! We're living in the motorhome and our house is on the market. We started sleeping in the RV with it parked on the road in front of our house one week ago today, while we prepared our house to sell. We have been slaving away getting everything ready for the last month, since quitting our jobs, but the last week was extremely arduous. We'd wake up at 7:00 or 7:30 in the morning, start packing, moving, organizing, and scrubbing until 7:30 or 8:00 at night, at which point we were both barely able to move. The last few days, we were pushing ourselves so hard that by the time we collapsed into bed our bodies refused to relax and, on top of total exhaustion from pushing our bodies, we were barely able to sleep. Thursday was a bit of a relief because it was picture day. We were only just able to get the house emptied out and scrubbed by the night before, and all we had left to do before the photographer could to do her thing was to mop the wood and tile floors, and to take a few last items out from the garage. After pictures, we took it fairly easy as we worked on organizing the RV. I did pretty good finding places to put our belongings as I brought them out, but by the end, I was out of room and we were in a hurry so I piled the last few baskets of stuff wherever I could put them. On the table, on the floor, on the dog crate, anywhere I could find a spot. Yesterday, Abe did a few paint touch ups and I found places to put all of our stuff that remained. I can't believe we found room for everything that we kept, but we did it! It took a bit, but my body finally realized that it was okay to relax, and the last two nights we slept great. I feel like we finally reached the starting point for the next year.

Last night was the first night away from the house. We went to church this morning, so we parked in the church parking lot last night. It is the strangest thing knowing you're home, but you're parked in someone's parking lot. I feel out of place or something. I'm still waking up in the morning and it takes a minute to realize where I am - that I'm not in my old bed, in my old room, in my old sticks and bricks house. It will feel normal before I know it, but for now it's anything but. I'm still waiting for it to hit me that I'm not employed. Maybe it will, now that things are finally slowing down. Or maybe I'll just gradually adjust to my new routines, and will never have the shock that I expected when I quit my job.

It's been an adventure with the dogs. We have a 3 year old Great Dane named Marley, and a 10 year old Aussie mix named Truffle. Truffle's pretty easy going in his old age and is happy to lounge around in the RV. I think the adjustment is easy on him, and he's liking always being right next to us. He spends a good deal of time sitting next to me while Abe's driving, enjoying being scratched behind his ears. Marley, on the other hand, is having a harder time of it. The whole leash thing any time she is outside is causing her a bit of consternation. She refused to go to the bathroom while on the leash, making Abe and I quite nervous as we watched her get more and more agitated. She just doesn't understand why we won't let her run in the back yard like she is used to. FINALLY, after a day and a half, she went when I took her out this afternoon. What a relief! The last thing I want in this vehicle we call home is a dog mess on the floor. The carpet shampooer was one of the things we had to give up.

Now it's time for our first lesson we need to learn - to just chill. In the age of business and entertainment that we live in, there's always something going on. If it's not a job, it's house work. If it's not house work, it's running errands. If it's not running errands, it's yard work. And at the end of the day, when the to-do list is done or we're just tired, it's TV, or phones, or computers. It's always something. And after the last month of go, go, go, go, go, it's harder than ever to stop. Now, it's time to learn to be quiet. We don't have to always have noise. We can sit and talk, play with the dogs, read, pray, or just breathe. I am so looking forward to the first morning somewhere warm, waking up, making a cup of tea, and sitting outside to watch the sun rise, listen to the birds sing, and enjoy creation. Such peace and beauty that most of us never get the chance to enjoy, even though it's available every day (at least in the warm months) because we're too busy.