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New Keys

I’m picking up the keys to our new place today, and I’m so excited I can hardly stand it.  I’ve got the trunk packed with shelf-lining paper, brand new brooms and mops, our vacuum cleaner, my oil diffuser, and about 60 bottles of essential oils.  I was thinking I’d take the laptop over and play Pandora while I pre-clean, but then I remembered our wireless isn’t hooked up yet.  Maybe I can dig up a radio somewhere.

As much as I despise moving – it really is one of my least favorite things on earth to do – I can’t help but be thrilled for the blank slate we are given with each new dwelling.  We mentally arrange furniture, visualize colors, work towards a sense of cohesion with artwork and paint and textiles.  Towards creating a flow, and a feeling of ease and comfort. Not that we’re any good at it, but we try. And after house-sitting for six months, it’s exciting to think about the treasures we will find when we start opening boxes.  We’ll see our dishes again, the rich green Denby stoneware from our wedding registry.  I still love it after 14 years.  And our paintings.  And family photographs.  And our books!  God, I can’t wait to put up our bookshelves.

With this move, we know the house itself won’t be our forever home, but it feels so good to just move down the street.  To stay in our kids’ school district.  We’re not starting new jobs, or moving to new cities, or pulling the kids away from their friends anymore.  We’ll just be moving houses in the same town we already know.  Our forever home of Blacksburg.

And even though our stay in this townhouse will be temporary – 2 years? 6 years? – we’re treating it like we’re going to be there a while, and I can’t wait to make it our own.  To scent it with the natural warmth of cinnamon oil, or maybe the crispness of douglas fir, while I clean today.  To fill it with music.  To sweep off the porch for the arrival of our lives tomorrow.

7 thoughts on “New Keys”

  1. When we moved into the home we live in now, we lived in it for a week with NO furniture. NO TOYS. NO TV. It had snowed the day the movers were going to bring our stuff and with our very steep driveway, they rescheduled our delivery. It surprisingly was not that much of a bummer! It gave me time to clean, think and just feel the house, listen to it….We each had a fold up camp chair, an air mattress and blankets and pillows, a cup to drink from (we ate out everyday) ….We had the fireplace….we had deer…a family of deer living in our backyard! We watched them everyday as they woke up and got on with their day and then again when they settled in under their chosen tree for the night….it was awesome. I would have missed that if I would have been unpacking boxes. The kids had no school, my husband had no work and we had nothing to do but be. We’d all walk around the house and “arrange furniture” and then “re-arrange” and so on….the kids had a blast running around with our dog in the HUGE basement and hearing the echo of their voices…flashlight hide and seek in the dark….daydreaming about holiday decorating….It was kind of like a real vacation (camping at home) haha…
    Congratulations on your new home! Have fun getting settled in and make sure you stop to look around a little…just incase the deer come visit 🙂

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  2. This sounds marvelous, Andrea. It is a treat to *be* in a new space, and I personally believe the flow/color of rooms etcetera plays a bigger role in our experiences than our linear, logical right brain consciousness acknowledges. One of my favorite spaces in the world is the new wing of the Milwaukee Art Museum — all marble, glass and light light light. I feel my entire self breathing easier the minute I walk in there. May your new home embody such peace as well 🙂

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    1. Yes! I absolutely agree about the flow of rooms. We rented a house in Maryland that had a beautiful flow – curving walkway, beautiful garden, intuitive flow and window arrangement inside the house. I think the owners must have studied Feng Shui. Nearly every person who walked in our door commented, “Wow, your house is so comfortable.” It put everyone at ease. We haven’t been able to replicate that feeling again, but I hope we will one day!

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