Hello! Happy Saturday! Even though my husband and I both work from home, we enjoy celebrating Saturdays, too. Also, this is Alexandria Maxwell, and there’s a fair chance we haven’t met. I’m excited to get to write for you today. Kim is out of town and I guess I was in the right place at the right time to get to write a guest post.
With Kim away from home, I thought I’d take a few minutes to discuss home (it’s my current pet topic). Is it a permanent physical space? Is it any space where your “peeps” are? ;) Is it a state of mind?
My husband and I are just coming off four years of living in a camper trailer. We moved into it one month before we graduated college, and set off graduation day on one long adventure that hasn’t quite ended. A dog, a cat, and two babies later, we’ve considered settling down. Settling down for us would look like living in one physically-dependent location for a few months out of the year and then traveling to and from that location throughout our busy season. We’ve started to lean into that the last two years and have rented a house in Minnesota this last winter. But here’s the catch—the camper feels like home. It’s cozy, living in under 200 square feet with the people I love most. For our family, we’ve decided home is wherever the four of us are together. And it feels more “homey” if the space we are in is also ours. Like the camper.
We’ve learned a lot, living in less space. In tight quarters, tensions can rise. But if we get into an argument, we’ve got nowhere to go. So we have to settle issues before they become bigger. No time to fester under the surface here. Like I said above, we both work from home. In a camper. With two small kids. We’ve had to learn some great organizational skills, and we’ve all gotten used to taking turns. In the camper, there’s only room for one project going on at a time. There’s also less room for stuff, which is a huge blessing. Paring down our lives to the most essential items was an exercise that both of us appreciated.
Over the course of this summer we got an actual house house and moved it onto our land. This fall is going to be eaten up with renovating the 100+ year old farmhouse and hopefully creating a home for our family (my dream goal is to be moved in by Christmas). It’s going to be interesting to see how many of our tiny living principles we can retain in a 1200 square foot house. I’m anticipating some real adjustments moving into our own permanent space.
Because the camper was never meant to be permanent. And anyone who has stayed in a camper or understands their construction knows that to be true. There’s hardly anything to them, which was great for us in the beginning of our career(s), driving 35k+ miles a year. Our circle of events has a tighter radius now. Most of our events are within a four-hour drive of “home,” which is our two and a half acres of raw swamp lovingly named Hartsfield Homestead.
It will be weird to not wake up in a new place every few weeks, and so far two months is the limit of us staying in one location before the travel bug hits. We experienced the travel bug this winter staying put from October through April. Will that change if the physical space we’re inhabiting is ours? Maybe.
Maybe we’re just chasing the concept of “home.” Is home something you find, something you make, or small moments along your journey? I’m beginning to think it’s a combination of all three. While we’re fond of the space we occupy with our kids, no one ever feels 100% at home all the time. We come the closest to that sensation when we’re spending time with our family and friends.
So, my parting call to action is to enjoy your Saturday, and if you can, enjoy it with those closest to you.
- Alexandria Maxwell
(Kim Note: Thanks, Alex, for being the guest blogger! You can check out Alex's latest book, Already Almost Home, and all of her other works at www.alexandriamaxwellwrites.com.)
On This Day
Historic Highlights (credits)The conflict began over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two breakaway regions of Georgia. When the two provinces broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s and most of the international community did not recognize their independence. Russia on the other hand, backed them and placed peacekeeping forces in the two regions. In 2008, tensions escalated between the two countries after Russia moved a large number of troops in the area. The war ended with Russian victory and with Georgia losing parts of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to Russia.
Happy Birthday to You!🎶
Remembering You
May you find home wherever you are and make it a great Saturday!
Kim
Hey, you two! What a pleasure to read Alexandria's guest blog. I liked it so much that I went immediately to AM's site and spent a good 30 minutes there. Kim, great idea to have a "local" poet celebrity as your guest. I am looking forward to a connection with AM. Hey Kim, what a brilliant poem in the Gallery! I couldn't have done better myself!
ReplyDeleteAh, you've inspired me already! I recalled I have a house-moving story to share too, an illustrated one to boot, buried 'somewhere' in this once-mobile home built in 1938 by the people from whom I purchased it, east of Humboldt, Minnesota, a move of 75 miles.
ReplyDeleteMy driveway looked like that too once upon a time. It wound along a high bank over looking a creek adding some introductory rustic flavor to the location all year long. One schoolbus driver retired earlier than she had planned after she learned she would have to drive in here after our school-aged daughter.
Now where is that story?
Fascinating!
ReplyDeleteYour lifestyle reminds me of a photo exhibit I saw once. People were asked to lay out all their possessions. Americans needed half a football field. The nomads could get by with a large bandana.