Our Last Day at Lock Vista

As I've written before, place is very important in my life. And today is the last day in *this* place. We've been slowly moving the whole week (it's much easier for me to move slowly) and I've been saying goodbye with each load brought to the new place.
I won't miss much physically. The apartment is cute, for sure, but the experiences are far more memorable. I've changed SO much in that apartment. I remember leaving a friend's car one night in a heap of tears because I thought I was going to be single for the rest of my life.
I remember the day I changed my apartment around, bought a new couch and met new people 24 hours later. I remember when Dave spent two months sleeping on a bed in the living room and we watched Fear Factor, drank gatorade, and compared our parking trials. I stopped talking to a few friends at one point. I quit my final school. I graduated from college. I got a real job with a paycheck! I lived in Scotland. I got engaged. I got married. I got a better real job. All in 4 years.
Place provides a good container for life, an easy way to mark change. It holds imagery and memory well. I am excited to live somewhere new and see what experiences that place will hold.
When I moved into Lock Vista, all I knew was that I wanted a place that would let me grow. And grow I did. In this new place in Greenwood I'm setting an intention to develop my writing life. With a whole room dedicated to quiet, clear communication, and spiritual connection, I intend to have a writing routine, publish, and commit to using writing as a healing tool.
I went through some boxes from my high school days and got rid of a lot of crap that I'd been hanging on to for no real reason. Clearing the clutter out, simplifying my files, and creating a sacred space will really help me out.
My writing life has been a long one, but not necessarily an intentional one. I've taken MANY classes and yet once I write something I almost never look at it again. Not that I need to look at everything, but maybe some revisions or at least some organization would help. I look forward to being able to catalog some history. I plan to create a chronological anthology of my best work through the years. It's interesting stuff for sure.
The studio in Fremont will stay as a work space and not as a writing studio...I'll be able to keep writing at home, where I feel inspired and safe and the studio can be covered in crap, paint, and other things and I won't have to worry about writing in a messy place ( I can't seem to write in mess).
Another thing about place has to do with taking space energetically. While I am still very much in favor of not having a room for each activity in a house, I do recognize that consecrating spaces for specific things allows the energy of that thing (let's use writing as an example) to stay there and grow, collect, etc. Of course I'm not looking for a personal library with engraved pens (although, not a bad idea) and parchment paper but, if my writing could be personified for a moment, it might be nice to know that writing is done in a special place at a special time and it can come to that place to settle and get creative. I like that idea. My writing does not have to put on hold or set aside for "free time," which I rarely have. It can go to the writing room, and wait patiently til I set my tea down and begin. I can create a playlist for inspiring music, have a nice chair to read in, and hang pieces up that I am proud of. This all seems glaringly obvious to me NOW but I have to admit that I didn't really give my writing this kind of attention before. Which is why I don't do it too much. All things creative are not equal in my life. I love to play with textiles and paint furniture, but I've been treating writing as a similar hobby and it's not. I have an amazing job that lets me work only in the afternoon and I really want to use my mornings to write (and submit!).
Another exciting part of this new place that we're living in is that it's big enough to entertain people. We've crammed groups into the small apt, but this time we can have a place where more than 3 people can sit comfortably, and we don't have to share the space with a table, an office, a hallway and all of our worldly possesions. Very exciting. Our kitchen is also big enough to cook in, versus throw together meals. Now I can be in there WITH Josh and that's great because we do well as a team, especially if we have room to work. I used to cook a lot more when I lived with roommates but the kitchen at Lock Vista was just not big enough. Only one or two shelves for food, barely enough room for all the baking/cooking equipment, and then almost no counter space (we had a dishrack because there was no dishwasher and that takes up half the space!). So things will be a bit different now. Cooking and hosting are a big part of making our home a home and I can't wait to set the place up.

I've put my Reiki practice on hold as well for various reasons. When it just wasn't feeling right I took the shingle down and went on to other things (constant employment). Since I've stopped I've only seen one or two people and I've been missing more energetic work. I'm not sure where it will fit, but I am welcoming energy work back into my life because although I wasn't the best at marketing, I did really enjoy it. Our downstairs is big enough that I can create a nice practice space (or at least a transformable space) so that I can go back to see friends and family. I'm even going to buy my own table!

So I have high hopes for this house. I have good relationships with the places I live (a few hiccups in the past not included) and I think this will be a great experience. I'm going to start a new blog (Blue House Blog) so I can document our changes, improvements, and anything house related. I also plan to strengthen my relationship with this house through my writing. Stranger things have happened.

That's all for now. I'm going to set up the new blog. I'm excited.