two sleeps to go

....until moving day.

We are slowly becoming awash in boxes and yet, when I look around, there is still a bunch of stuff lying around, so there’s a way to go.

I have these absolutely insane ideas about how different our lives will be in the new house.

• The kids won’t squabble (because they’ll have room to get away from each other and Hugo will be so busy building a particle accelerator in the workroom that he won’t be interested in pestering his sister)
• I’ll be skinnier (because I’ll have a dog (!) which I’ll walk daily)
• I’ll be healthier (because I’ll have a freezer, and I’ll actually plan meals and cook ahead of time)
• I’ll have lots of time to write (because……because……ummmm…. it has something to do with how a large organized house is actually less work than a small crowded condo……)
• Homeschooling will go great! (because of all the things above which will lead to a happy, healthy, and patient mama.)

Don't hurt yourself laughing.

Once we were sure we moving out of this place soon, we gave ourselves permission to discuss how much we disliked it here. On the surface, it’s fine, and theoretically similar to the condo we sold. (1065sq ft, 2 bed/2 bath v. 965 3 bed/2 bath; both concrete highrise). But the reality is that it’s proven itself way less ‘livable’. Even the truly nice view (panoramic view of a working river & I adore looking at water) didn’t outweigh the massive negatives of being here.

The first huge negative was the tiny living area. We are a family which likes to spend time together. We like to watch DVD’s together or listen to an audio book….. But we also like space. We want to be able to stretch our arms, put our feet up, (or, if you’re a 7 year old boy, to jog in place, jump up and down and practice double axels on the slippery floor). We were constantly nudging and bumping (and some of us were outright hitting each other). Aaaargh! Just get out of my space!!!!

The second large negative was that this is a crappy neighbourhood. There are several emergency shelters and soup kitchens within a couple miles of here. The Salvation Army’s shelter is right next door to the really seedy, downright sticky, XXX shop (with 25 cent peep shows!!!!) and both are 2 blocks away. I have spent the last 4 months carefully navigating a route which didn’t take me past these lovely sites because there’s a fairly busy intersection there & inevitably I’d get stuck at a red light right in front of it. Right behind this landmark (and believe me, everyone knows where it is) is the Terminal Pub, and if ever a pub was aptly named, this is it. I believe originally it had to do with the railway terminus but now, it’s just the disease status of its patrons.

It’s a depressing area and I survived by avoiding being at street level. If you can keep your gaze on the sunshine sparkling the river, it’s grand. Look down, and you’ll see a steady stream of people whom our mental health and addiction services have failed. I have never gone for a walk in this neighbourhood, and the few times I walked to the store, Roo kept tabs on me by looking at me out the window the entire way. Going out meant getting into the car and driving to a park so you could walk and replenish the soul with nature. So different from our old home, where we literally lived in a park.

We’re all so looking forward to the house and the yard, and the simple ability to just walk out the door and stand on some green grass, and hear birds singing. And I’ll still have water. It won’t be the mighty Fraser River – it will be the not so mighty Austin Creek, but it tinkles beautifully and a little part of it is ours. (well, not really, because it belongs to Fisheries and Oceans but close enough…)