Every time we moved to a new house and had to cart everything inside or back out, I cursed our lack of simplicity. But to be gentle on ourselves, (1) we didn’t know what to expect, what it would feel like to try to create Home in other people’s Houses, (2) we sold the house and packed in a frenzy, (3) I feared boredom so I packed distractions, and (4) we knew Elvira could handle it.  So we threw in extras:

• 2 containers (two!) of old journals and dayplanners, with the optimistic notion that I would create time to read through and somehow use them for writing and meaningful reflection
• Thick heavy flannel sheets to make us feel at home (never used)
• 20 books that had long collected dust on our Minnesota shelves.  We did in fact read over half of them, but it meant we couldn’t enjoy the diverse offerings from our host houses’ collections.
• Lawn chairs and picnic blanket to luxuriate during car-charging sessions.  Turns out that Wallmart parking lots in the winter aren’t the best places to luxuriate.
• Two bankers boxes of files so we could finish up 7 years of unfiled Canadian taxes and many other business nigglies (7 years of unfiled Canadian taxes, investments, house sale follow-up…), to more completely free ourselves of those Things-to-Do items that somehow stay stuck there for months and years
• Too many clothing options (2 containers each plus 1 each for winter gear - who are we trying to impress?)

And we brought some fun or luxury items that we already knew we could (and now will) live without, but since we had space why not?

• Yoga mats and free weights (well used in addition to joining local gyms)
• 4 containers of leftover food from our life in St. Paul, slowly eaten down
• Immersion blender, non-stick frying pan, sourdough starter, kombucha scobie, granola and yogurt supplies - all much-appreciated ways to make mealtimes our own
• Pillows (no explanation needed) and our cosy sit-on-the-couch wool blankets from Nepal
• Pickleball paddle (used once) and soccer gear (sadly never used)
• Bicycles - well used and much enjoyed
• Seed packets from our garden and homemade jam to leave as thank you gifts for homestay hosts and friends
• Sewing machine and supplies (not used as much as hoped, but a welcome activity for Sazza)

Things we regretted not bringing?  Not a single thing.  Things we regret giving away in our great house-sale purge?  Not a single thing.  Things lose their weight once released.  When our recent yoga teacher told the class to “Let go of anything that weighs you down and keeps you from flying”, we knew she was talking directly to us.

When we fly to Costa Rica in a few weeks, my one carry-on bag will feel light enough to fly.  Three t-shirts and two long-sleeves to rotate (it helps that we’ll be in a warm climate), a Kindle to hold all my books, a new lightweight Macbook Air to share the journey, a ziplock bag of dehydrated sourdough starter, a family photo fridge magnet to make every kitchen feel like the center of our own Home, and a big jigsaw puzzle for Lucky Guindon.  If I do regret leaving anything behind I can probably buy it there, but I suspect I’ll be too busy dancing in the new space they created.