Feeling at Home

Home.  Such a cozy and happy yet powerful word.  It's not just a place, it's a feeling and when you feel it, it sure is good.  Fortunately, many of us have a place we call home.  A lucky bunch may have many places that feel like home.  If you are feeling lost, confused, or uncertain about your life or your day, find a place or song or memory in which you feel at home.  The certainty will return.  

Although I haven't lived in Bloomington, Illinois for about 10 years, my parents' house feels like home.  Both Oakland and San Francisco, California feel like home.  402 Cole (just the thought of it even) feels like home.  Being anywhere with my dearest friends all together is home.  Living with Brandt is home.  And cooking in the kitchen is home.  That's my home short list at least :)

So for me, currently living in Utila and not really having a permanent address anymore, I'm very thankful to be feeling so much at home.  I've got my soon-to-be-husband, Brandt, by my side and it makes everything seem right.  I don't "miss home" because I feel at home with him (wait just a minute, didn't Edward Sharpe and about 5000 other musicians write a song about this once??)

We talked just the other day about the things (not people) "from home" that we miss (it's been 1 month now that we've been away).  We realized that we really can live without whatever we were living with before but decided that we missed sandwiches the most (specifically Potbelly's).  If that's all we really miss, we are going to be just fine for a long time!  

Also, I have a kitchen now!  Granted I don't have a cutting board, measuring utensils, or the ability to cook at a temperature less than med-high, it's a kitchen and I love it!  In fact, this is it right here!  

 

My love for cooking took years to develop, but I thank my father both for my love and flare in the kitchen.  Thanks, dad!

This week, Brandt and I moved into our Eco-Cottage where we will live for the next 5 weeks.  So now I have not only him and a kitchen, but we have a permanent residence where we can enjoy our daily routines and unpack a bit which adds to the feeling of being at home.  See the pictures below!

Switching gears just a bit here… I also want to mention that the Eco-Cottage is a great house and suits all of our needs - aforementioned kitchen, flush toilet, hot water shower, small table to eat meals together, bed for 2, and sits in a semi-secluded garden area.  Basically it is a 3-room studio (is that a thing?).  Brandt and I talk about building a house one day, and something like this would be really nice.  We have talked about modifications we would make: adding 2 rooms so that there can be 2 bedrooms and a separate living space, and enlarging the porch/deck so that there is more outdoor space for our family's hammocks and a table.  And lastly, figuring out some way to have 2 sides to the shower, one outdoor, and one indoor, but still all part of 1 shower.  Who knows how I build this?  I am sure it is a possibility!  Please submit your DIY building plan for dummies to me!

At another point in time I would have thought that although perhaps functional for 1, a studio isn't really appropriate for a couple or family, but now I am thinking differently.  If you are living in a studio and it feel too small (and I'm not talking about a NY closet with a single bed and no windows, but a larger US studio apartment) then perhaps I can offer 2 suggestions: you have too much stuff and you spend too much time indoors.  If you are living in a 1BR or 2 BR apartment or a house and feel it is too small, then really, you just have too much stuff and need to spend much more time outdoors.  From my experience, downsizing isn't just for seniors and empty-nesters, it can be for anyone.  And it can make you feel free and happy.  Try it, you might like it!

I may have mentioned in a previous post how initially it was difficult for us to get rid of our material things - clothes, furniture, kitchen items etc.  We started combing through the apartment 6 months before we planned to leave.  In hindsight, our first passes were dismal.  It's like we didn't really get rid of anything.  As time went on, it was much easier to let things go, and it really felt good!  We do have some things in storage (parents' basements) and are traveling each with a large backpack and small school-book sized back pack.  Already though, we are talking about downsizing again!  I knew this would happen, but we just had to learn for ourselves what we needed to bring and didn't.  Hopefully when we stop back in the States in May (wedding celebration), we will be able to unload again and travel lighter.

Again, switching gears here, I want to update those who read our blogs and are interested in what we are "doing" here.  

Brandt switched dive schools and has started his 3-week Divemaster course at UDC and it's a great fit and is going well for him.  He is gone much more of the day, but it gives me time to enjoy things that we don't do together.   And it makes me miss him which in a weird way, I like.

Now that I have a kitchen I am doing more cooking!  And grocery shopping (which is one of my favorite hobbies).  Tonight I am making curry for the first time, so wish me luck.  I am continuing to practice yoga and it is really wonderful.  I'm grateful to have this time in my life where I have the time to practice for 1.5-2 hours (most) every day.  I walk a lot, usually 1-2 hours a day, and I read and I am studying Spanish daily.  Also, I finished the book, Mexico (James A. Michener) and I very highly recommend it.  Lastly, I'm going to try and start focusing on meditation more so just picture me picturing my breath and that's where I'm at.

I hope you enjoyed this post and are feeling at home. 

Please seek the intended message of this post overlooking any typos and grammatical/formatting mishaps.