Dreaming Some Place Else

When you are planning a move, a job change (or retirement) or a vacation, you visualize yourself somewhere else. You imagine what you'll do, the things you'll have around you, how each day will shape up.

Reality is always somewhat different. To say the least.

This photo was taken on a bit of the hike and bike trail in downtown Austin, looking east at some of the flock of cranes that are ubiquitous in the Austin skyline at the moment. For those keeping score at home the building in the foreground is the 360 which will one day be 44 stories and will contain our small home. The eighteen-story building next in line is the new AMLI rental units.

With hundreds of units actually being built at the moment in downtown Austin and others on the drawing board, there are lots of people visualizing a new lifestyle.

My own vision is having a lot less stuff. I'm a bit puzzled about how I'm ever going to accomplish this but I know that I just have to keep asking myself: Will I use it? Will it look good? Could I just get something like it later if needed? It seems like we've been getting rid of stuff at a good pace for years especially since we started remodeling the house. But we've acquired stuff, too. And maybe the getting outpaced the getting rid of. The pendulum has swung around here, but it's not going fast enough to suit me. I have to look at every little thing and ask myself "do I see it being useful and having a place in my new digs?"

We are thinking about a trip we are going to take soon. Going on a trip is like moving in a way. You take with you what you think you need for a short period instead of the rest of your life. One finds that a lot of things can be left at home and not missed when you pack up for a car or plane trip. Of course, you might eventually miss your souvenirs and book collection and miscellaneous gadgets. And, of course, the coffee machine. Other than the stuff I take on a trip (clothes, toiletries, camera, laptop) I guess the things I most want to keep are books and things with sentimental value. We faced the fact long ago that books took up a lot of space around here. The paring down of those continues but a kernel of the collection is going to surround us in that condo, I think. Making it a warm and welcoming place to sit and read. While drinking coffee. When I visualize myself elsewhere I'm always reading (or writing in my notebook) and sipping coffee. Or maybe enjoying a walk on a trail or sitting on a lawn. Many people say when confronted with our yard "you must spend a lot of time out here." It isn't true, though. I'd visualize that, too, if I were them. But what time I spend out there is usually doing something like chopping bamboo back that escapes from my neighbor's yard.

Can you tell that the downsizing is weighing me down again? I keep finding more stuff and it gets harder and harder to decide what to do with it. But meanwhile...let me pack for a trip and forget about it for a little while. Just taking along things I really might need.