Friday, June 3, 2011

Breaking Up Camp

I packed up our Easter decorations today. It occurred to me that I won't be seeing them again for at least two and a half years. I made those decorations two years ago, and they were part of an attempt to begin a family tradition. These early years of marriage and motherhood have been about establishing a home life and gathering the tools and trimmings that make that life comfortable and distinctive.

The people we know who are married and have children all seem to be in a homesteading pattern. They've bought houses and are in the process of improving them and adding swing sets to the back yard. They're digging in for the long haul.

And we've been watching them with vicarious joy. My fantasies include putting in raised garden beds and choosing wall paint colors. We pour over each month's This Old House with glee, picking out different projects for what we call "Future House."

But homesteading is not our next phase of life, and I need to switch gears. Now is a time for simplifying, for paring down our earthly chattel and preparing for pleasures of a different kind--meeting new people, seeing new things, taking up newer, lighter hobbies (the sewing machine is not going to France.)

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