Suitcase Nomads

We have been suitcase nomads for five weeks and have one week left to complete before we head home.  There are lessons to be learned from living in houses that are not your own.  You have no personal possessions except what fits in a suitcase and those things are clothes and hygiene products.
Clothes are mixed and matched to stretch the options without taking half your closet.  When the processes begins, usually the clothes are okay and work well.  After a few weeks they become less appealing and a love hate situation begins to build.  The jacket worn daily for days in the Idaho weather starts to feel not so friendly and cozy; the color, fit, style are now unappealing and you curse the cold that forces the necessity of having it accompany you everywhere you go.

We have been in two very different climates.  California was warm and sunny. Coats and heavy sweaters were not part of the wardrobe.  Two weeks and you feel like a native and pretend that it will last forever and you can stay in paradise, but suddenly reality slaps you hard.  The short airplane ride back to Idaho is part of a cruel trick.  In an hour and half how can you go from warmth to--dumping things out of the carry on in the airport to find a jacket so you can go outside and wait for a taxi.  Shocking!

You also find out that other people have nicer things than you do!

Bree and Georgia both have high end knife sets.  These knives actually cut with no effort.   The small knife slices a tomato without squashing it to a mess of seeds and pulp.  I don't have nice knives.  Mine are not meant for fine slicing and dicing.  They are made for hacking.  I have met the green eyed monster--jealousy!  I want their knives.  Nolan says I'm fine with what I have and a good set could be dangerous.  Having watched me sling knives for over forty years he says he would be nervous if I had a really sharp one.  He may be right, but that doesn't stop me from coveting them.

Moving from place to place makes you resourceful and tidy.  The house is not yours, but you are its care taker.  It must be the same when you leave as when you came.  House plants depend on you for survival.  Its a fine line deciding how much water they need and how often.  Their people would not look on you kindly if they came home to dead plants.  Most likely, you would not be invited back.  When I left Bree's her plant seemed healthy and happy.  Georgia's seem okay, although one has struggled a bit, but it appears to be doing much better--needed more water. 

This has been fun and interesting, but I think we are ready to go home to our bed, dishes, plants(which have been left untended because they are succulents), different clothes and familiar knives.  Would we do it again?  Sure we are up for almost anything out of the norm--we've had a good time. We've had two glorious weeks on our own in La Jolla and reconnected with friends and family in Boise.  Now it is time to go home and check on our Idaho friends and family.  We can't leave them on their own for too long.