Enough

    Deb got back from Nevada a bit shook up after all that was part of putting her dear mom to rest. The highs and lows of sorting through a lifetime of stuff and being with her four sisters and two brothers was an emotional ride. I picked her up at the snazzy Vancouver International Airport. 


  We are glad to be back together in our little house. Something has sort of snuck up on us here (snuck? Is that a real word?) We are experiencing "the simple life"  and it's not all that easy. We, well, especially me ....I wasn't that much of a human dynamo to begin with, but this pace of getting up whenever we want to, and not because we have to, takes some getting used to. To-de-do-de-do-do.


   Mornings are nice, somewhere between 7 and 9am we start the day. Part of our idea for the good life involved downsizing and although it may change, for now, that means one bathroom. We both thought that would be a tough change after separate bedrooms (whenever we wanted them) and two available bathrooms. Now the early riser gets the bathroom while the other sprawls in the vacant bed space. We have our coffee. She likes dark roast, I like medium. She uses the little stovetop Italian espresso maker, I use a French Press. Sometimes, like this morning, we meditate for a half hour or so. Always after coffee though. Takes an alert mind to do your damnedest to do nothing. We are both pretty out of practice. Years of being so busy and important made my mental meditation muscles mushy.


    I have two art sessions a week one is life drawing for 3 hours Tuesday mornings and the other is a one pose, life painting session for 3 hours on Thursday afternoons. And that's my busy week load. Everything else is whatever I can do on our little property to make it nicer, all in all,very enjoyable. 

   Deborah has a job now. She cleans the house across the street once every 2 weeks. She likes it and she's good at it. She is in a book club and has started slowing down enough to become a very good soup and bread maker, skills she almost lost during the busy and important era. She does a lot of reading. We have our drinks in the evening, maybe more than we should, but mostly we don't care. We actually look forward to the relaxing time after dinner and sometimes if things seem a bit bogged down between us we will have a toke of pot and this puts us into another way of seeing ourselves and it feels rewarding to approach issues from another angle. We don't do this very often and perhaps that's why it seems like a mini adventure. I like it when we find something to really laugh about. That feels strangely healthy.


 However, it is difficult to laugh at the burden of bureaucracy. 
We had to jump through so many hoops just to move into our "simpler " life in my home and native land. And we await the hoops left to hop to make Deborah a legal resident. We have taxes in 2 countries now to submit, and the permits and fees for building, health care, prescription drugs, vehicles, insurance.... I appreciate what we get for our taxes and fees and permits, I just wish it was easier. To-de-do-de-do-do.


        My new mantra is "enough" (as opposed to more.)     

To have enough food clothing and shelter and to have enough of the bullshit that weighs us down. I should wind up by saying how very fortunate we are that my dad left us this little place and that my son is helping to make it possible being landlord in WA for us here in BC.... enormously enough eh?