Can't even go to the Safeway!

August 9, 2014

Amy-Right before bed.

It’s weird living in an RV without a house.  It’s almost like being on vacation, but without the responsibility of going back home.  It’s funny just how much time, attention and focus home ownership really takes.  I begrudged every second, trust me.

Now, those that know me know that I’m not a fan of owning a house.  I know this makes me “out there” to many of you, but I’m just not built to think that the untold hours I spend cleaning, organizing, cleaning, maintaining, cleaning, repairing, and then going to work to make money to repair, clean, organize and maintain a house is really that great.  Yes, yes, the house makes it possible to love each other easier under its walls, but I’m just not that into the whole owning-it thing.  I have no doubt that my time, energy and money can be better spent elsewhere--anywhere.  And, though I know this will insight riot after I type it, I don’t think owning a home is an investment.  It may have been at some point, but not now.  (Cue disagreeing hordes, now!)

Anyway, I didn’t realize just how much I was anchored to that house until I was going down the Safeway aisles today getting dinner stuff. 

I went down the detergent aisle and spied garbage disposal cleaning pellets.  The first thought through my head was, whoever came up with that is a genius.  I mean, we all know that the fastest and cheapest way of cleaning the odor out of your kitchen garbage disposal is a lemon (or some other dead citrus you happen to have left over because your kids refuse to eat it for some bizarre reason only they understand). But, this person has packaged, marketed, and invented a classier way of cleaning your sink out.  I absolutely must have these pellets.  They are an answer to a need I didn’t even know I had.  But, my next thought was, I am no longer a disposal owner—I no longer have to think about the pesky details of cleaning out my Insinkerator.  Then it hit me--holy crap, I don’t have all that house stuff! I have no more compost bin to buy compostable liners for, no more need of the 27 different cleaning supplies needed to clean all the crap that inhabits a house—and the best part is, I DON’T HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THEM ANYMORE!  This led me to look for other items that have been deleted from my mental consideration.  In fact, the trip to the store was much longer than it normally would have been because I went down every aisle (just like my Dad) looking at all the stuff I no longer had to do!  You should know that it is not lost on me that I now have the time to go through the store as a direct result of my lack of home project-ness.  Thus freeing up my time and thoughts.

After really looking at every aisle in the entire store, I discovered that there’s a whole lot of stuff at the Safeway.  (Incidentally, when did Ramen earn a spot in the international food aisle?)  Which means that people must think about all that stuff—I know I used too.  And, for what?  Did buying my 20^th bottle of cleaning agent really make cleaning the oven any easier?  If you have ever heard my Easy Off story, you know that it didn’t.  I do not think Easy Off is easy and the only thing that came off was my skin and hair.  Or, just how many different shampoo choices does the average person really need?  There are different hair types, but do you really need that many different brands?  And, why do babies need that many diaper choices?  They don’t care which diapers you use.  You will never hear them thank you for choosing Pampers for their pooping needs.  Do you need an entire aisle for beer?  Really? 

But, RV living has a downside though.  It’s awfully tight quarters.  I wish Kerry didn’t have to navigate through the minute spaces of the RV during his recovery from knee surgery.  It’s painful watching him, but he never complains.  Instead, he just stops for a second and figures out a way to get to where he wants to go without injuring himself or others.  He’s a trooper, for sure.   And, Maddie just has to be directly under everyone’s feet at all times or else she is not doing her job. 

But, we all persevere through this transition. We know that this is just a waiting period.  We pass the time researching houses to rent in Ireland (Check this one out!  Be sure to look at the pictures.).  Because Ireland is our adventure now—it’s our house.  We are patient through the waiting here knowing that there’s a temporary home there for us.  We are spending this time seeing as much family  and friends that time and life allows.  I hope I remember to take the time to go down every aisle in an Irish grocery.  I wonder what that will tell me about what people in Ireland fill their carts and mind with.

Goodnight!

Amy