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Previous to about 3 years ago I was living in a 3000 square foot house with a wife, two kids, three dogs, and all of the crap that one accumulates to fill their empty spaces. I carried the mass of the house and the stuff like a lodestone on my life and I had been feeling it for quite a while. There were many reasons that it was time to make major changes in the way I lived my life, unburdening myself of a house full of stuff being a large part. That, and some other misplaced priorities were conspiring to steadily sap me of happiness.
As I started to make the life changes I needed, I could feel the weight easing. In preparation to sell the house after the divorce, I took a hard look at the things that I owned. Going from a large house to a 2 bedroom apartment required tough decisions on what I could keep. Little did I know that this was just a first pass and a minor prelude of things to come. Even so, in my new downsized digs, I was free of the oppressive mortgage and rooms of seldom used things.
Over the last several months, as moving day approaches, I have been in the throws of an even deeper culling. My preference is be to able to live without incurring the substantial cost of a storage unit, if it can be avoided. I can rely on my parents to carve out a limited bit of storage space at their Portsmouth house but I risk arousing the ire of my father as it adds to the mass they are already housing for my mother’s art practice. After all, it’s not fair to transfer my load to them. The unspoken deal between us is they’ll store a few things for me and I’ll provide them with a boat to sail which has been a hole in their lives since “Ilaria’s” unfortunate accident in 2012*.
My philosophy is pretty simple for what will go with me on the boat. To stay aboard it must be necessary, of high quality, and it has to fit. Easy, right? When preparing to cruise extensively and one considers what is necessary, there is a rather large list. Clothes, tools, toiletries, spare parts, and accessories – both personal and for the boat – all have to somehow find a home aboard. For winter, I’ll add to the list when I go south so I can travel for work and pleasure without having to make a stop in Rhode Island for things like skis and ski gear.
A significant challenge will be to make everything fit in such a way that I can find things easily. Part of boat life is every thing has a place and very place has a thing. From a houseful, I’ve cut down to what will fit inside a 5×10 U-Haul trailer. I’m prepared to make further cuts if needed but I’m getting down to the point where each decision becomes more difficult. I am down to bare bones and it’s very freeing to me to feel this light.
Ilaria
*”Ilaria” was John and Libby’s lovely Morris Victoria 30 and she was nearly sunk when she was broadsided by an inattentive commercial fishing vessel. She was totaled by the insurance company and sold as salvage. I hear she has since been refurbished and can be spotted sailing again around Newport harbor.
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