#1 — A small change in location can change your perspective.
Maximus is a curious cat and plays Sherlock Holmes with anything new or changed in our home. After I recently reorganized our bookshelf, he discovered a small empty basket on its bottom shelf. We weren’t surprised when he sniffed at the basket, pawed at its bottom, but we didn’t expect that our tallest cat would decide that this basket was a good place to alight after his investigation. His backside barely fits and his head almost hits the next shelf yet we find him in this basket often. I believe from Maximus’ point of view, the basket is big enough to accomodate him and he gets a protected view of the room.
We recently moved into a small apartment after our former landlords decided that they wanted to sell the house we were renting and we decided that although we liked living there, we didn’t want to own it. The house was about 3000 square feet. Our apartment is about 800 square feet. Most of our posessions went into storage in our friends’ rather empty basement until we decide on a longer-term housing solution.
What amazes me is how much easier it is to live in 800 square feet. Straightening up is a quick process. When I can’t find something, there’s only 800 square feet to search. There are a lot less tchotchkes to dust. I wish we had more storage in our kitchen but that’s only because I have too many bundt cake pans.
We’ve organized our stuff that’s in our friends’ basement and are slowly weeding out what we don’t need, haven’t used, or don’t love. It’s a strange process in that part of me says, “Well, you’re not using it now so do you really need it?” and part of me knows that one day we will live in a house again and have use for tchotchkes and fifteen throw pillows. Still, I have a clearer view of what little we really need and I long for more simplicity. I’ve found that I’ve been able to part with several books that looked interesting when I bought them but I will never read, the old sewing machine that I don’t use, the poster of the “Accolade” by Edmund Blair Leighton that’s cheaply framed, and the rickety table that has to be leaned against a wall for stability, to name but a few of the castoffs.
In looking back, I wouldn’t have guessed that we would live in a smaller home again or that I would like it so much. Well, for that matter, I wouldn’t have guessed that I would be comfortable living in a town of 5,000 after growing up in Seattle. It just makes me wonder what else is possible.