I was an early adopter of the KonMari get-rid-of-your-shit method. I didn’t need much nudging as I love deleting things. That’s why I thought that leaving all of my worldly possessions behind would be easy but it hasn’t been. It turns out many of my possessions did spark joy. Huh.

I took no comfort in my comfort objects and now I long for some of them left behind in a storage unit. I feel for victims of natural disasters for whom those objects are gone forever. For those people, we should all wear our favorite pair of underwear today. Clutch your favorite pillow, drink from your favorite mug, make dinner in your favorite pot with your favorite knife and try to see fit to appreciate it all.

On our real estate shows, Clayton and I try to teach people to calculate their Freedom Number. That is the amount you would need in performing assets to not have to work your day job. You are far more financially free when you realize that you need less in life but you can get carried away with this concept too because less is not 0.

Since moving abroad, we have been living in a temporary furnished apartment. We will soon lease an empty apartment and send for our furniture. As Clayton and I were making a list of what we want from the storage unit, we were both surprised at how much we longed for those things.

It was as if we were discovering that we did not have to leave every part of ourselves behind in order to heal. We could keep the parts of ourselves that we cherished, but we could see those parts more clearly after some time and distance had been put in between.

We moved abroad with one suitcase per person. Now I live with four pairs of socks, four bras, one pair of jeans, one nightgown. I’ve been fine with this. If I’ve been trying to prove to myself that I can make do with few possessions, I have proven it. But my heart longs for certain things that I did acquire in my old life consciously. Such as:

• My collection of pajamas and activewear, which I wear around as if they are proper outfits but should probably not do since Portugal is more fashionable than suburban New Jersey.
• My knee-high boots
• The Lunchbots I use for my children’s lunches and snacks.
• My chef knives and Le Crueset braiser, which costs over $300 but I acquired at an outlet for $30! Oh yes, there is love there for this possession, if only for the deal alone!
• My burr coffee grinder and proper coffee mugs. I declare here and now that teacups are bullshit. They are too shallow with too much surface-area-to-liquid ratio so the beverage gets cold too fast. Why do they still exist?
• My Peloton bicycle! Although being without it has forced me to explore Peloton runs and that has been great for me! I admit that breaking me away from the bike has been a good thing but I want it back! 

Clayton misses his HomePod. My daughter misses her American Girl doll. She cried for her Anna Julia for a week after we arrived. I should have insisted that she bring the doll but when she resolutely set it aside, I figured she was being brave and cooperative. I didn’t know she was doing it to please me because I was on a rampage about conservative packing. I’m an asshole and I kick myself for that but Anna Julia will join us soon!

This experience has given us a real sense of the meaning of “home and hearth.” When you are transient, you can make anywhere a home. We have made that point. We can roast a chicken in a temporary apartment. But when I merge the old with the new: a Portuguese chicken in my bargain Le Crueset braiser while wearing my activewear! That will be very healing for us indeed!

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