Tuesday, November 5, 2013

From apartment to shining sea...

(Craig writes) Our housing sojourn continues. Since we decided to sell our home in Columbia back in 2006 and try a few different living situations ...apartment chaplains, 5th wheel camper in the backyard, then 5th wheel camper at a campground, small garage sized cottage, 2 BR duplex, 3 BR house, 2 BR city apartment and now a 1 BR downstairs beach house we are living in while waiting for the closing date on a 4 BR home back in Columbia. Seems like we would get tired of all the moving, setting up and taking down, packing up and unpacking and actually we have. The choices made to remain "open, fluid and available for opportunities in ministry and otherwise" have left us with a desire to go back to a more normal lifestyle of being in a home of our own again. Home means different things to different people at different times in their lives. At one point it meant a symbol of stability and sameness for us that had a sense of safeness and civility. That gave way to the feeling of a liability, an anchor holding us to one location and mindset of servanthood to a geographical location. We enjoyed the lifestyle of keeping options open and not being too tied down for a season. Now we seem to have come full circle in that the desire or felt need for a type of freedom from geographical anchors has reversed and we seek to re-establish the nesting instinct by buying another home. Becky is excited about decorating, tearing out walls and painting as well as restocking our once scarce supply of furniture. I am excited about the same things as well as having a lawn to mow, a driveway to pressure wash and house trim that needs painting again. Maybe advancing age put these desires back into us or maybe we are just a bit weary of living life backwards...nah, it is just time for another change. Home ownership again, bring it on! Now if I can just find my paintbrushes, my rakes, another lawnmower and my way back to the Lowes Home Improvement Center...