Let's go Condo Camping

It has started.

The sell off and give away and packing up phase of the journey.

Better than half of it all is spoken for or sold already and we are having an open house tomorrow and Thursday for people to come and grab or buy what is left and unspoken for as of now.

We stressed this last time around.  We did a lot of work moving and getting stuff out, selling, bartering, and trying to maximize all of it.  In the end, it didn’t matter.  Then, we were leaving, so it had to go one way or the other.  It’s the same now.  It would be silliness to think that we are going to move a 55” TV across the globe with us and our options to ship and store it until we get there would be about what double a new TV would cost.  So, it’s going to a good home… Or it’s going to whomever picks it up off the street.  We are pretty much at that point.

Also, we aren’t married to the things this time.  Last time around it was harder.  

Part of that was because it was OUR STUFF!  That’s a hard thing the first time.  I had spent YEARS with my cast iron pans and put time, love, and much cooking into them.  End of the day, it had to go, because again… Cost of bringing/shipping would be a net loss.  

The other part is because we thought we would want/need the things and it would be hard/costly/difficult to replace.  They were not.  The 500 baht pan set that we got 2 years ago…. Well, I think I got my $15 worth.  So, we get 100 baht back.  Fine!  Super!  I was planning on giving them away.  Oh, we got 400 baht for the air frier we paid 1200 baht for 2.5 years ago.  Yeah, I think that is an acceptable depreciation.  

It’s a different way to look at things.  

Yes, I would have loved to have held onto the cast irons and given then to Kiddo as a wedding present in 20 years, but that’s not our path or life…. So, I guess I’ll just have to find another way to be sweet and to love my child on her wedding day.  <shrug>

It’s also nice that we don’t have an apartment full of furniture and the like to get rid of.  Yes, we’ve acquired some stuff, but mostly it was seen as just that…. Stuff.  Like our kitchen table set.  We looked at that as a cost per year thing.  It has served us well and we’ve gotten the value we expected (and then some) out of that.  We’ve also gotten happiness.  We got three years of family meals.  Also, 3 years of sharing meals with others, as they’ve come for dinners and the like.  Would you pay $15 per year for family meals, meals with friends, a lunch nook, an art for Kiddo nook, and a place that we gathered, ate, laughed, shared, and bonded as family and friends?  When you think about it like that, instead of- I paid XXX and I should get at LEAST XX back- It’s a lot easier to see the value of things and give them proper context.  It’s a table and some chairs.  They cost us money, but gave us 3 years of family and meals.  Can we get anything for them, that’s cool.  Otherwise, I don’t think they’ll fit in the luggage.

As we move things out, we get to condo camping.  Barebones and making it work as we need.  Thankfully, most of the kitchen gear won’t walk until late or until next week, so I’ll still be able to invent meals on the fly.  Even if it’s a lot of chicken and noodles or one pan meals.  

This is the way it works, though.  Every couple of years, we get to simplify things, cut back, purge, and restart.  It’s a weirdly nice feeling.  We came here with 8 suitcases (huge suitcases) and we are looking to leave with (hopefully) 6 huge suitcases.  So, not only did we have a life for 3 years here, have fun, live and not miss out on anything (we had all we needed to live, eat, play, clean, et al) we also get to have a summer adventure and do taco research, but we condensed our lives more.

Don’t get me wrong, it is stressful…. At least a bit.  But I pose you this.  Could you cut your life down to 6 suitcases in 12 days?  Because we can, with minimal stress about it.

Because, at the end of the day, it’s stuff.  The important stuff, the things that are important or have meaning, come with.  My coffee mug from Wilson’s.  Monk Monk.  PorkChop Piggy and fluff blankets.  J’s Vietnamese coffee mug.  Or her Robe.  These are important to us and we make the space for them.  The TV, the pans, the pots, the glassware and utensils…. Not to go Woody from Toy Story on you all, but we just watched and the - YOU! ARE! A! TOY!!! Line comes to mind.  

YOU ARE A PAIR OF TONGS!!!!  No need to get precious with it.  YOU ARE A CHIAR.  Same.

See.  It’s easy when you start to think about it in practical ways.  

The end is no longer neigh, the end is here.  We are now near the perch, almost to the top, and in 11 days, the rollercoaster will breach that hill and life gets 1000000 MPH for a bit.  Hands up, everyone, and then…. YIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!  There goes the rollercoaster and we’re just there for the ride.

Let’s go, Kiddo.  Let’s go, J.  It’s almost time for the fun ride.  Then, after that, we can get in the express line for the Shanghai Experience and we get an extended ride on that.  It’s exciting, exhilarating, scary, nerve rattling, unique, and about a million other adjectives that I won’t type out.  We’ll be together.  We’ll see and do a bunch of cool stuff.  We’ll see old friends and new.  We’ll have a blast together just seeing, living, playing, eating, and enjoying.  I love you both, so so much, and I can’t wait to ride the summer with you and experience the next adventure with you both.  We’re almost to the top and there’s no getting off the ride now.  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!