For the first time in all my many decades, I am living alone. By myself. Solitarily.

The first couple of decades I lived with parents, with siblings. With roommates at (some) college. With my sister again. Then friends. The next several decades I lived with my family of marriage. After that, in my own personal Escape From Egypt, I was fortunate enough to be taken in and accepted by my adult children and friends, till finally reaching the Promised Land of a converted garage in a friend’s house.

There have been a couple of places since, lots of letting go of the stuff of my life. And now, here I sit on my own second-hand couch, in my #smallnottiny house, alone. Party of One. (And I may still have too much stuff.)

There are upsides and downsides to any adventure, right? Here are a few things I’ve learned on my personal road trip to the Life Solitaire:

• Toilet paper no longer magically appears on the holder OR in the cupboard. If there is none, it is my fault.
• Dirty dishes never ever move themselves to the dishwasher! And the dishwasher does not magically run.
• When the rugs are dirty and the floor has indefinable things on it dragged in by the dog? The dirt simply stares at me and waits.
• When I’m hungry? No meals magically appear.
• Boxes I’m sorting stay on the floor,
• the garbage can forgets to put itself on the street for pickup.

Altogether, this is quite a lazy house left to its own.

And yet,

it’s MY space, my stuff.

I’m making a craft room for the first time in my fifty-seventeen years! I have dreamed of a craft room for years now but didn’t have space to dedicate to one.

It’s a house becoming a home with colors and textures I love, in a style I believe may be called Early Maximalist Thrift Store. It’s a hug and a hello and a smile everywhere I turn.

Things I love:

• Old rulers, wooden, metal, straight or hinged and folded
• Letter Js (for julie)
• Number 9s (for my birthdate of 9/9)
• Old clocks
• Funky pieces of furniture (green medical cabinet, old school desk, Sunday School folding wooden chair)
• Floral wallpaper
• Graphics
• Soft pillows
• Cozy blankets

It’s been a journey to me, really–to learning what I like as opposed to wanting to please others. To expressing who I am through what I love to surround myself with.

Also being kind to this earth God gave us, by using as much previously-owned as possible (which is also kinder to my budget).

As a long-time people pleaser, this is a place where I can feel at Rest.

And yes, replace the toilet paper on the holder myself–

It’s been a long one, but it’s been a journey to

H O M E.