We've been living in someone else's home since mid July, as we are doing an exchange with them. It has been wonderful and given us an opportunity to explore a new, really nice area of the country that we have considered moving to. We have two cars to drive, an old Volvo and a new Lexus. We have an acre of land to explore, a pool to swim in during heat waves (it's unheated), and lovely trees and flowers to look at. We have a four bedroom, very pretty, spacious house in a beautiful neighborhood, and we are lucky to have found it. It has taken good care of us for four months while there has been a lot going on.
We spent the last twelve summers doing home exchanges, so we are used to this, to making ourselves at home in someone else's house. It's fun, setting up the rooms, getting used to the kitchen, seeing what unfolds in the spaces, as our family settles in.
For the last month we have been actively looking for a place to move into at the end of November, as our house trade ends then and we want to stay here for the rest of the school year.
We have looked at all sorts of houses -- old homes, new homes, tiny homes, huge homes. There are only a few to see, as we need furnished homes.
Today we saw a house that reminded a little of the house I lived in when Gary and I were first married. It had a lot of unfinished wood, lots of light with interesting windows, pretty gardens and views from every room, and many cozy areas.
As I drove away I was thinking about how heavily I am influenced by my environment. I guess we all feel more relaxed in a serene place. I thought about how attached I get to homes, to interior spaces, to parks and forests, to beaches and even hotel rooms. How every place I've been has a spirit, a life, a feeling it gives you, if you are quiet enough to sense it. How lucky I have been to visit so many amazingly beautiful places.
How nerve racking it is to be on the verge of having nowhere to live. I have never been in this situation with my family. In one month we have nowhere to go. Yet somehow I trust we will find something.
Today I thought about how a home interacts with a person and influences them, and they in turn influence it. A home becomes a part of you.
