*New to us
We’ve been stateside for six months now and have wasted no time in settling in. Since June, we’ve gotten married, built a house, and bought a car! True, there were just two guests at our City Hall ceremony, the house we built is a 10’x12′ Tuff Shed in my parents’ backyard, and the new car is actually eight years old with more than 100,000 miles on it…but that’s as close to settling as we can get right now. It’s a big change from the road.
After so long on the road, I guess both of us have temporarily gone into extreme nesting mode. I have put probably three dozen plants into the ground, and Juan has spent hours building shelves for our little casita. We painted and painted and painted. And even though the shed-house has no bathroom or heat-insulation, it still feels like a glorious palace to us. Best of all, it’s fun! Sleeping in the loft feels almost like camping in the roof tent of the van, which I guess we miss.
The pony has been in the body shop for three months now. That’s right: three months. He’s getting a paint job, and while we were in no big hurry, we didn’t expect it to take this long. But in the meanwhile, we did decide to get something a little more fuel-efficient for daily use, and Juan decided on a Honda CRV. It’s a great car, and while it’s not the pony, it’s definitely a great car to drive around in California.
California is a great place for us to return to, with so many amazing excursions within easy range.
It seems backwards to be actively accumulating all the trappings of a settled life, when getting along without all these things proved to be such a liberating experience. But I suppose the appeal of painting a wall, constructing some shelves, and planting a garden is hard to deny simply because of the physical nature of the work. It also contributes to a sense of growth when you are staying in one place.
I used to think that time flew when you were traveling, but now I can see that time flies more when you’re standing still. It is a simple trick of relativity: when you stay in one place, time is the only thing that moves.