Packing up the non-essentials

I wish that I was actually writing a post about how demolition is going or that we found dry rot under the bathtub, but we are still waiting for our building permit. So we are waiting. And packing.

And we are packing because within the next 2-4 weeks we will be moving out of our house into our apartment - our 700 sq foot apartment in the middle of San Francisco. And believe it or not, we are strangely excited.

I am excited about the simplicity of living in 700 sq ft. I am excited that there is less to clean and less to maintain. I am excited that there is a familiarity to it. I am excited to be in San Francisco. I am excited go to the movies and out to dinner with my dear friends who still live on that side of the bridge. I am excited to see how two little boys respond to living in the city.

And though I am certain that these rose colored glasses will quickly fade, I see this as an adventure and a gift. For it will have an end. And that end will mean that we have come to the completion of a major house transformation.

Before anything can end, it has to begin. And for it to begin the house needs to be empty which means we need to pack. So pack I did.

I started with all the non-essentials which will basically remain packed until we are done with the remodel and moving back in. The benefit of moving into 700 sq feet with 4 people is that you can only have essentials and it becomes unbelievably easy to differentiate between the two.

Boards games and tablecloths and candle sticks and hiking maps and binoculars and books oh my. So much I have already almost filled the first room.

It's amazing what is non-essential. 

What's even more amazing is how strangely peaceful it is to walk through an empty house with empty walls and shelves. There is just white space and a lot of it.

Wondering if we might just keep it that way.