Wish I could say my car ever looked this good. Maybe before Andrew learned to drive, and before he pulled one of the door handles off.

We’re making headway! We might not have the right boat yet, but we’re already getting rid of cars, and thank goodness! People were thinking our place was a used car lot. Mike and I both had cars, and both kids have cars, plus we store our friend’s big honkin’ truck at our place because it’s better for him, and we can then use it when we need to. That’s 5 cars, with only 3 people living in the house. The only up side to that is that it always looks like someone is at home.

So today we sold my 2000 Mazda MPV.

This car was a true suburban ‘mom’ car. I toted my kids and their friends in that car. I hauled plants, furniture, and carloads of groceries in that car. We took family trips in the car, with the middle seats removed so the kids could stretch their legs out.  It was an excellent car in every respect in that it expected little from me, and gave me a lot in return. The engine remains strong to this day. I’d say that car was a good investment when you factor in all the use we’ve had from it in the 8 years we’ve owned it.

We sold it to a nice young couple with a little 3 year old girl, and another little girl on the way at the end of March. They need a van for their growing family, and we needed money for our cruising kitty. I feel good about their getting my car, knowing that it will make this young mom’s life a little easier having a car large enough to tote children and groceries, and all the other things young moms tote around.

So we just made a nice little deposit into the cruising kitty! That feels like progress to us.

Soon, this will not be my office anymore.

It’s weirdly strange sometimes how our cunning plan gets pushed along without our being in charge of it.  When we started this blog it was with the intention of writing about the process of downsizing our lives, making it easier to cast off the ties that bind us to the land and get out there on the deep blue sea. Since then we’ve donated a ton of stuff, sold some stuff, put our boat on the market, and looked at a few boats, but that’s really about it in terms of downsizing. I mean, how do people really go about making their lives simpler while still living in the same house and working at the same jobs, parenting the same children? It’s not as easy as it sounds.

Until the Universe starts taking charge. And then anything can happen. You know all those books that talk about how to manifest change in your life? The ones that tell you to just move forward as though the changes were actually already happening? Apparently they are at least partly right. Problem is, once you put your goals and aspirations out into the Universe and begin acting ‘as if’ they were already happening, you lose a little bit of control about how things go down. I think this falls under the category of being careful what you pray for.  Here’s what I mean:

In my work as psychotherapist, I have an office to maintain. Like boats and houses, offices tend to get bigger and fancier, and more expensive, as one gains more experience. I started out practicing in a very modest office with minimal expenses. Soon I moved to a little nicer office, and after  many years there, I moved to a really nice office. I felt I had ‘arrived’. My office is on the Foss Waterway, half a mile from our boat. I walk from the marina to work. The office is filled with light from the huge windows, something that is really important to me up here. But what I really like is that my office is quite beautiful and I enjoy working in such a space. I love the furnishings, sometimes more than the ones I have at home. I enjoy just hanging out there when I have some time between clients.  Actually, it’s a little like having my own private apartment away from home.

At least I get to keep the furnishings.

A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call from the new building property management telling me that the bank now owned my building. The ‘new owners’ had decided they needed my office for their own use. Since they had not yet renewed my lease, which expired in November 2011, they were legally able to ask me find a new place as of April 1. Oh. Super. I knew there must be SOME reason why they dropped the negotiations on the new lease. Now I know why. The idea of having to move my office, with all the myriad details of such a move (which are considerable in my business) made me want to throw up a little. I responded with my usual hands-on-hips foot stomping at such a situation.

Then Mike said something that made me think again. “This might be a good time for you to consider not having an office, or doing a different kind of work so that you can be ready to walk away when we get to the point where we can leave.”, he said mildly.  Hmmm. My husband speaks quietly but carries a big brain in his head. He was kind of correct, in a way, so I began to feel differently about this move. The hands came decidedly off of the hips. My footsteps became quiet. Although I do need an office, I don’t really need such a big and expensive office, even though I like having it. Sure, it’s the trapping of success in my field, but I’m redefining success, aren’t I? Maybe I could get by with something that costs me less, which would enable me to work less? Maybe I could begin doing some work over the computer, or even meet with certain people in my home office? Maybe this is the price of my freedom. I can get on board with that.

I began to look at new spaces and, just like looking at boats, it soon became clear what I really needed, versus what I wanted. Of course I want a big space. I like having space to roam in a room. But I NEED only a small space, just enough for some choice furnishings. I need to stay close to my current location.  And I need to have a lease that will allow me to walk away if we get the opportunity to cruise sooner rather than later, and that will allow me to sublet the office on the days I don’t work. This would be perfect!

This orchid blooms constantly in this office. I've never been able to grow orchids before. I will miss this.

And so the Universe is on notice that this is what I require.  I see this as the first solid move we’ve made in the direction of getting the heck out of Dodge. I may not be financially able to walk away from my career yet, but I can begin downsizing in that area as a way of preparing myself.  And it was the Universe that made that decision easy.

Now, will the forces of the Universe please converge and get our boat sold? Many thanks, big U.!