It’s been a long time, friends, and SO MUCH has changed.
When I last posted, I was an exhausted high school teacher, acutely grieving my father after losing him to a long and painful battle with cancer. In the months following his death, as we tried to survive the loss of the father, father in law, and grandpa whom we loved so dearly, life around us moved on. Laundry piled, projects stacked up, we had a mouse infestation in our home, and our basement flooded.
Looking back, the flood should have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back of the mounting stress, but in a weird way, it was an outlet. I realize now it even pointed us in the right direction of our next right move.
In the days that followed our sump pump giving out, we dealt with that flood. We felt like we were bleeding money as we paid the flood mitigation guys, the plumber, the drywall guy, the carpet guy, etc. We threw away boxes and boxes (and BOXES) of outdated junk that we didn’t even recognize, and certainly no longer needed or wanted. We spent SO MUCH TIME dealing with these things, and as time passed it became very clear how weighed down we had by this stuff that had sat in storage for years. How many hours had I spent reorganizing all these “treasures?”
Even then we knew how lucky we were. Insurance didn’t cover all the damage, but we were both working and we managed. My mother-in-law had just moved out from the basement, and we were so grateful that her things were not damaged. And mostly…. we found that we had not shed a single tear to the dumpster-full of things we tossed. Even when we discovered the flood, even as I stood ankle deep in water and watched the box holding my wedding dress float by, I could not muster an ounce of actual loss for these possessions. I had been in such acute pain since my dad passed, that this loss next to it was so insignificant. For two people who had spent the past few months crying buckets of tears, that made an impact.
That’s where it started. From then on, we started to see our possessions differently. We started to realize that alot of it wasn’t just not valuable, it was actually detrimental. Our mindless consumer habits were holding us back from the life we wanted. These things had cost us at the time of purchase, and continued to cost us in upkeep, energy, and often, in regret.
We dove in. We read, decluttered, and read some more. We started to come up with our own form of minimalism, where we mindfully looked at the things in our home, schedule, and life, and got rid of what got in the way of our goal of simplicity, and the peace of mind that comes with it. I wrote a blog, this blog, that helped me stay accountable and work out how to invite the simpler life we wanted.
We moved to a smaller home with much less maintenance. We moved next door to family because that was a dream come true. We were lucky and privileged enough to be able to cut costs and reduced spending enough so that I could quit my job. And from there…. Well it’s a long story, but we gained two (teenaged) family members, started homeschooling, made space for some new and wonderful things, and have truly shifted our life into something we love.
I am beyond excited to tell you the story, share my passionate love for simplicity and homeschool, and continue the journey with you. And I am especially grateful to do so in a time when I know there are many new homeschoolers out there that could use some tips, guidance and encouragement. I can’t wait to support you in this amazing adventure and continue the journey myself.
Here we go!:)
Crooked Path to Simple 