Let's talk about moving house

Moving house......... raise your hand if you never moved house.
Uhm, I do see only a very few hands, you probably still live in the house you were born in. That is precious, so many memories.

There are so many reasons to move house. A larger house, down sizing, escaping to the country or back to the city, a different country, following your partner, changing jobs. You name it.
In my case my father liked to change jobs. He loved jobs he could improve and when it was up and running again with big profits, he got bored. It happened more often than not that he came home telling my mother: "I accepted a new job offer, made an appointment for house viewings so start packing the removal boxes!".
And within a month or two, sometimes sooner, we moved to a different city or village. My brother hated it, I didn't. Ironically, after we all left home, he moved far more times than I did before he and his lovely family settled outside The Netherlands where they feel at home.

I have always been some sort of 'loner'. I mean not part of large groups of friends though come from a cosy family where everybody was welcome to share laughter and serious talks.
With only one brother but many friends, the house was never empty and sometimes I escaped to my secret hiding place in the garden to be on my own for a while.
My introversion was well understood by my parents and never discussed, we were raised to be a personality and not a 'go with the flow' child.

With every move my mother told us: "Where ever you go, you always take yourself with you. If you can make your current home a cosy place to be, you can do that in your next home too".
And how true is this. You are the base of your own life, make sure it is a solid base because circumstances in life can change in seconds.

Right now I am in a stage of my life where I do not have sufficient income to maintain a house.
Although I love my (former farm)house and especially the surroundings (fields, farms, the coast) and although I have lovely neighbours, it is time to move on to a rental house to start a new stage in my life.
I do not want to look back, I do not want to be sad about leaving the house. No, I am looking forward to make my new home as cosy as my present. I am not a materialist but I am indeed looking forward surrounding myself with all the lovely things that I inherited from many generations before me.
Things with a history, things I cherish.
Someone once told me: "I don't like it, I want to live in the future and not in the past".
Fortunately I am in the position to live with the past in the future.
It was Dr. Martin Luther king who said "We are not makers of history. We are made by history".
Another appealing quote comes from Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan "He who does not know his past cannot make the best of his present and future, for it is from the past that we learn".

I am wandering off, so sorry! Back to moving house.
It sounds so easy, you pack your belongings, hire a van, drive to your new house, unload your van and start unpacking. Yes my dear readers, that is all there is to it.
If, or when..... you live with only a very few belongings and I do not.
I need to sort out so much and realize it is time to say goodbye to some of the visible history. I need to learn to understand that things I love need to go to people who will love it too and who maybe pass it on to their relatives or friends so the past will stay present in the future, loved and cherished by others. So that the history of my family goes to other family members. I fully admit that this is not easy for me. Fortunately I was brought up amongst relatives with the same 'problem'.
My first cousin visited me a few weeks ago to collect a 'family cupboard' which stayed with me for a few years and had to move on again. It was a pleasure to meet her husband for the very first time.
He looked around in my house and said: "I can see to which family you belong! You all have the same way of decorating and collecting!"

Speaking of collections (another hot item): books, chamber pots, photo cameras, storage tins, sheep miniatures, embroidery samples.......
Sigh..... or.... help!

Please ask the weather gods for good weather, right now we have heavy rains with lots of strong winds and I need dry weather to park the trailer near the house.
In the meantime I keep filling 'ready for immediate use' and 'ready for the attic' and 'photo props' and 'books' boxes.
With the help of precious friends that is :-)

To be continued.....

Helen