Saying Goodbye

Today was bittersweet.

At the moment, nearly every Airstreamer we know is currently attending the North-Central Washington, into Canada, ending in Banff gathering dubbed #aluminogan.  Odds are good that this week-long caravan of travelers – most of whom share similar views and values as us,  will experience and share loads of fun.

Kelly and I are not attending.

Not able to free ourselves from work to partake in a trip that far/long, we remain here in HMB.  We look in at #aluminogan from the outside, with mixed emotions viewing uploaded pictures and reading updates, all the while wishing we were there.

Following a sufficiently effective self-pity session, Kelly and I decided to get on with our day.

We had decided to take measures towards fully committing ourselves to this “less is more” lifestyle, and after breakfast we drove 30 miles to our storage pods for what was only the second, and last time.   A few weeks ago I wrote about a day we spent purging stuff from the pods … a day wherein we rid ourselves of most everything we owned.  Actually, that day was our initial time visiting the pods – a year after loading them.  Pretty sad actually.

Excluding our major furniture, everything was collected to be sold or donated.  It was a good day.

This morning, following one final review of contents in the pods, arrangements were made for all our furniture to find a new home.  In a few days, our California pods will be relocated.  Loaded atop a truck before traveling east to Minnesota, the pods will find a new home with my sister and her family who have a fabulous new house in St. Paul and are in a better position to put the items to good use.

And in the process, Kelly and I eliminate a $100 monthly storage fee.  Sounds like a win-win scenario to me.

Finalizing the release of these items is a bit scary, the realization being just that … final.  That said, Kelly and I have a strong sense that someday we will look back on today as the moment we completely let go of our old life – one that is fixed to a single location and consisting of too much stuff.   In deciding to release our strong clench on all that furniture, we  feel like we’ve affirmed our decision to live non-traditionally in our house on wheels.  And I’ll tell you what … this peace we’ve made with ourselves feels pretty darn good.

We started the day with lemons and managed to end the day with lemonade.  Good stuff I say, good stuff.