After 4 months of an itinerant lifestyle, I finally have a place of my own. It’s not that I’ve minded being what I called “creatively homeless,” and I’m thankful to all the people that let me sleep on their couches, in their spare bedrooms, or out in their backyards, but it feels so good to have a place of my own again.
Not that it’s entirely ideal. I’m living in an unfinished basement, a place my roommates affectionately call a cave. When I got here a few days ago, the walls were several different colors and the room had a pretty spartan look to it, so I thought a little redecorating would go a long way. A friend of mine gave me a bucket of left over paint from when she painted her room. Unfortunately, it looks great in her house, but not so hot on my uneven concrete walls. I have inadvertently adopted the style mud hut-chic. My roommate suggested I scatter hay around on the floor to amplify that effect.
I will probably just opt for throw rugs.
My two other roommates live in the upstairs of our duplex. Today we cleaned out some refrigerator beasties to make room for more food. I did not know that sealed marinara sauce can mold, but apparently anything can happen. I now have my own space in the fridge and a shelf in the cabinet. This is a pretty big deal. On the trail, I mostly carried noodles and freeze dried foods, and, when I did have fresh items, they had to be things that wouldn’t get squished or go bad too fast (Hooray for string cheese!). Now I have room for almond milk, eggs, and fresh fruit. My cabinet is full of cereal boxes, flour, and other things that would be impractical to carry while hiking.
It feels strange to have so much stuff. As I walked home from the grocery store today, I realized that I the weight of that one day’s shopping, was more than I had ever carried while backpacking. It’s not just the amount of food that feels strange. When I was unpacking my belongings in my room, I had two opposing reactions. 1) How can I have so many things? Do I really need so so much? And, 2) Yay! I can use a full sized towel now! This is like Christmas!
As it turns out, I have climbing shoes, a printer, a sailor dress, cords that go with devices I no longer have, a ridiculous amount of yoga pants, stacks of books, and a pair of high heels. Who knew? It just about fills up my little cave. I’ll be working the next few weeks on finding a balance between my desire to build a home and my desire to live simply. There has to be some kind of middle ground between living in excess and being creatively homeless.
