Stuff II

Stuff II

OK... So... The auction happened. It was... Let me digress a bit please.

Thursday I walked into our now former “home” and it looked like a thrift store, the auction people had moved everything we owned to the main floor and arranged it to be sold quickly and efficiently. Please keep in mind that we love thrift stores, most of what we wear comes from va... oops a certain thrift store in Nanaimo and Victoria and... (not sure I can name names on the blog ;) )

Anyway, it was kinda weird seeing all our worldly belongings laid out and arranged to be sold. I have to admit, I had a meltdown when I saw a few of the things that were up for sale. I am not as stoic as I thought I would be (i.e., I am a sap). Monday when I went into the house, it was empty except for a few things that had not be picked up yet. About 10 minutes after I got there, the auction people showed up to take the last few boxes of things that didn't sell to a local thrift store (irony, eh?). Seems that in the digital age, books are not big sellers. The lady that ran the auction came in and we hugged. She asked me how I was doing and with quivering lip, I said OK (yep, sap). She then handed me a bag with all the chits of all the things sold (prices marked on each one) and a cheque for our cut of the sales.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

25 years together and another 30 or so of life prior to being together reduced to 4 figures. All the hours and wages and toil and sacrifices to amass all the stuff that was sold suddenly reduced to a cheque with 4 figures on it. Kick in the gut does not exactly express the sentiment. When I showed the cheque to Penny, she was reduced to tears (for those that know Penny, you will know that this is no mean feat). Now here I sit tonight writing this blog entry after a few, ahem, glasses of wine while reflecting on what just happened.

Pause and reflect…

1… 2… 3… 4… 5...

About 2 months ago, the house next to our former downstairs neighbour's new abode burnt to the ground in the middle of the night. The people in the house were lucky to get out with their lives, let alone the clothes they had on when they went to bed. They lost everything, totally and completely. Any sentimental or precious stuff they had was suddenly gone, poof! I have been thinking about this everyday for the past month leading up to the “AUCTION”. You see, Penny and I have chosen to give up our stuff, they did not choose. Yet… we feel the tug, the attraction, the hold that our stuff had on us. The people who lost everything, well they LOST it, no choice in the matter. I am sure they feel the tug and attraction just as us, maybe even more so. So I keep thinking, why do I feel the way I do when I choose to “lose” 98% of my stuff? I wish I had a good answer right now, I don't…

But… It has really made us start to realize what is important in our lives and that, well, stuff is just stuff. Sure the family pictures, memorabilia has emotional strings but other than that, its just, well… stuff. Chairs can be replaced. Computers can be replaced (with better and faster ones for sure :) ). Clothes, well they are just covering for the body and if you are not a slave to fashion (love David Bowie's 80's tune “Fashion”), you can just go to va… well, that thrift store and get some more body coverings. And the automobile… LOL one of our friends lent us a white, smallish, older SUV with a hole in the exhaust. Talk about status! I am sure cool driving it (legend in my own mind!!!) You see, I sold my really super cool, black 49cc scooter so I need some wheels for the last week of work. Did I mention that there is a huge, homemade, honkin' trailer hitch on the front bumper of said white, loud, smallish SUV :) (you rock Norm!).

And you know, regarding security that stuff brings you… well… It's crap!!! Penny and I both feel free, liberated! (I am sure the marketing people of whatever corp. that owns this bloggosphere are ready to cut me out right now!!!) There is no security in the stuff or amount of stuff or the type of stuff or the value of the stuff that we own! Take that consumerism! Truly, that 4 figure cheque we got today, well, that is the price of freedom (OK, picture Mel Gibson's Braveheart here or that goofy Scottish elevator skit on You… that video site) FFFFFFFFFFFFRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Editor's Note (LOL) This was written a few days ago and posted today, like last time, best laid plans...

Blog the 'P' part

Blog the 'P' part

And how it all began! For me.....

As Harry mentioned we had one of our regular meetings with 'John'. My previous birthday I had turned 50 and I was ruminating - is it time to slow down, scale back, work less and settle in to middle age or did I want to still 'go and do something'. Ever since we closed down HP WorkShop I missed the flexibility of being my own boss. I would like to have my own business again but what would I do? The conversation started around the table and the “I think you and Harry are getting too complacent” comment was uttered. A spark was lit in me. I had options!! Life for the next 20 years didn't have to be punching a clock somewhere for 50 weeks a year and having 2 weeks of vacation. God had more in store for me, for us. Options to spend more time with family in UK and AZ, places to visit, experiences to have. People to touch, to help, to spread the gospel. I was ready right there and then to 'GO'!! We got in the car and then Harry's and my conversation began, it's still continuing......

But we had a house with a mortgage, jobs, pets, community and friends all around us. We led a home church even. We had to have a plan and queen of the lists wanted it all to happen ASAP so I could cross things off and be on my way. Marriages do not work like that though. Life does not go at my speed either and certainly God does not!

First was getting the house sold. I won't go into all the details but the short version is it took 2 and a half years. We started trying to sell it ourselves, the 'need' to maximize on the sale was very important at the time. That morphed into Property Guys, a company that helps home owners to sell. That didn't work either. Time for Bonnie, way overdue, but we had to work though the process of letting go I guess. Bonnie is for Harry and I the 'Pulse of Chemainus'. She's a realtor with ReMax who we met before we even moved to Canada. Bonnie has been instrumental in buying, selling and renting our Chemainus homes for 17 years,  even providing a reference that has helped us with securing the house sits we're off to do. During the time it took for the house to sell prayers were answered. Our 20 year old cat passed away without having to be moved or the worse option, you know the one. We did loose 'Maggie' Harry's canine buddy, very quickly due to bone cancer and buried her in the back yard along with the rest of the gang. In fact when the house sold and we were moments away from leaving the property for the last time it wasn't the building but our 'family' all buried in the garden that was tough to say good bye to. We walked down to the 'back 40', holding hands and said our final good byes to Sadie and Scoot our two Arizona dogs, Nairobi and her sister Euphrates the cats I drove up to Canada with in our VW bus. VerVer, the 'Jimmy Dean' of cats, too fast to live and too young to die, run over one night shortly after we'd returned home from a visit to UK. Of course Maggie was there too! Yep that was a tough evening.

Meanwhile we were both working at the hotel. Harry was the Maintenance Manager and me Assistant GM. 

Stuff 

We all have it. Some have lots of stuff. Some have very little stuff. Some is blue. Some is large, 5500 square feet. Some stuff goes very fast, 220 MPH. Some stuff... The list goes on and on but we all have stuff. Or... Does stuff have us? Does stuff have cloying fingers that reaches into the very cores of our souls? Does our stuff give us security? Does our stuff give us status? Does our stuff give our lives meaning? What is stuff anyway and why do we strive so hard to keep getting more stuff? 
WOW! I was just going to write about a little life diversion my wife and I are taking for 6 or so months and THIS is how I am going to start it!!??!!! I sure wish I had all the answers to the above questions. I tell you what, how about you follow us on our journey for the coming months and find out what we discover. 
I'll tell you something, it started with a conversation about 4 1/2 years ago with our “financial” guy (who I will call John) that went something like this... 
Penny- “I wish I didn't have to work 40 hours a week and could only work 1/2 or 3/4 time.” 
Harry- “That would be great! You need a break.” 
Penny- “I just feel like I am in a rut and am going to have to keep punching the clock for the next 15-20 years.” 
Harry- “Yeah, after the biz and becoming wage slaves... I miss the biz.” 
John- “You guys sound too comfortable. You've become too complacent. What would happen if you could work in Canada for 6 months and then be out of the country for 6 months, maybe volunteering, visiting family...” 
And so the seeds were sown for our adventure. An adventure coming to fruition. You see, we are off to house sit in Europe for the next 6 months. A major event in the time line of our little adventure is the auction coming up on Sunday. An auction where we are selling all our stuff. Well not all our stuff, everything except 2 suitcases each and 1 steamer struck each of stuff that we just can't part with (steamer trucks are staying in Canada for when/if we come back). So, stuff... pretty quick, we won't have much. I'll let you know how that feels real soon. Stay tuned. 

(As it happened, the auction was yesterday but I am posting today. Ah life... funny how plans morph :) )

The journey has started! The auction was yesterday, look for my next blog titled "Stuff". Thanks for following... H&P