Eleanor has this little box containing one book for each letter of the alphabet. They are poorly designed, cheap, cardboard impersonations of literature, but she loves them. Next to her budah (blanket), her bock (box) is it. Shawn and I try our darndest to keep each tiny volume in the bock, but to no avail. They find refuge under the crib, the piano, the couch, the dog bowl. Anyone who thinks there are only twenty-six letters in the English language should come to our house. We live by a different truth here.
I was recently asked to recommend some baby gear for a first time mom. Funny how when I was pregnant with Eleanor so many things seemed essential. With Charles I think we could make it with a swing, a car seat and a carrier. Oh, and a bouncy seat. And a double stroller. So the question remains...which swing, car seat, etc?
Everyone's moving to Nashville and no one would believe me if I told them that I called it first. I've been scheming our transplantation down South for years and now several of our friends are fleeing New England to the greener, warmer, more affordable Tennessee grass.
We move out of our place on April 26 and I have been steadily cleaning and packing. I am struck by how much we have accumulated over the years. When is optimal happiness achieved as far as stuff goes? Fourteen pairs of socks as opposed to thirteen? Five dresses as opposed to four? I am asking those questions, ridding our lives of excess and finding lightness along the way---a side benefit of drastic downsizing to be sure.
I'm just going to write it: $7,000 a month when we were first married, $5,800 a month leading up to the time when Eleanor was born. $3,400 now. Full disclosure as far as our monthly income goes. I actually discovered that a friend of mine and her family are living on a similar amount and I felt encouraged and relieved to have the comradery. I also felt embarrassed because she does the living part with much more grace than I do.
A walking we will go, rain or shine, in this sixty something degree weather. I am not eating as much sugar and I am putting quinoa, kale and avocado in a bowl and calling it truly yummy. I am praying more throughout the day and would not want God to have placed us in any other circumstance. I want to be here. It is amazing all of things you can do, the perspectives you can adopt when "less" is the rule.