House by Christmas?

Not everyone needs a gap year or years. It makes so much sense for us and this was a great transition period for Rick and me. But we had several factors happening in our lives and not everyone, heck, maybe no one, has the same life events going on. And many people don’t even understand the “gap years” idea, anyway.

As we share the gap years, sell everything, not have a home right now philosophy with our new dinner mates on this cruise, we are fairly sure no one could sell their homes and live seasonally. But part of this is that people travel, maybe even a lot, and they still own a home. So the “sell the house” part is what doesn’t resonate with others.

Tonight, though, a new friend from Manchester, England truly appeared confused. She questioned, “So, will you be in a house by Christmas?”

We politely repeated that we do not plan to buy again for while, that we downsized, and plan to live seasonally around the world until we determine where we wish to plant ourselves. No, a home was not in the immediate future.

Why do people think that you need a house? What does a house give you? Something to sell someday? We did that. Financial safety? You can place the money from the sale of your home into a great savings plan with your money manager. A place to put your stuff? That’s a bad reason to own a house. A place to have Christmas with the family? We will celebrate our Christmases around the world.

Watching the movie, Under the Tuscan Sun, for the 40th time, we find Bramasole, Frances Mayes home, so endearing. Bramasole is also the name for the large Etruscan wall near Mayes home which is part of the original city wall of Cortona, and it’s called the Bramasole wall. The layers of history here are intense and deep. Hannibal defeated the Romans in the valley down below the town and the walls of the city were built by the Etruscans. The homes here are so grounded, so rooted in the earth, and in the people who lived there for thousands of years.

The name, Bramasole, means “yearning for the sun” and we feel that this is us, yearning for our happy place. But I am not sure that we are yearning for a house.

Mayes wrote,”Whether or not you leave somewhere with a sense of place is entirely a matter of smell and instinct.”

Leave with a sense of place. We leave with a feeling, a grounding. Rooting oneself to a location. Embedded in the region. A sense of place with the five senses engaged.

I believe that we, too, are yearning for a sense of place. We are not yearning for a house. Learning about the culture of a city or country that we live in seasonally will provide that growth. That love of the land and the ancient inhabitants. We already embody this and we are just getting started on our journey.

I cannot come up with a need to own property right now. It’s a reason to pay taxes. Spend money on upkeep. I’d rather be traveling than mowing the yard or cleaning the kitchen. We create our sense of place when we are living seasonally.

But, then again, that’s just me.

Have a place by Christmas? Not a chance…..

Lascero da qualche parte un senso del posto.