Comfort and Convenience

Within three weeks, we have bought two cars.  We arrived with none and now are comfortably and conveniently sharing two just as we are accustomed.

The first, a Vauxhall Zafira, is large by British standards (although easily medium size in our eyes).  It has already been an asset in our travels with a two year old and with visitors.  And even this "larger" vehicle still gets 40 mpg (thank you Europe!).

The second automobile, a Rover 216 SLI, fits right into the little car landscape.  It is economical and practical yet fun for zooming along the roundabouts.  The cars have helped us in these early days to navigate our lives, especially as we find our way throughout our sections of the Methodist Circuits.  Adding these cars to our household has brought to light the reality of just plain starting from scratch.  And we have just what we need.

It is a rather strange but exciting feeling to start new--to know to some extent that life is not dependent on the stuff that you own.  Don't get me wrong.  I have left behind a collection of stuff that is meaningful to me (which has made a temporary home with parents in North Carolina) and that I even long for in certain moments.  But, really I claim a sense of liberation in the 17 boxes and 5 suitcases that transported a small portion of my family's precious belongings to England.

We arrived mainly with clothes and shoes, some special wall-hangings, select children's books and toys (including a sweet, little, pink bike dismantled into a large suitcase), a few necessary electronics, reference books (only 4 boxes to be exact--that was hard!), and pertinent papers and documents.  We each lived out of a suitcase for two weeks and, after almost four weeks, have only just unpacked the boxes.  We have been diligently making some necessary purchases to make our house a home, but generally, we are living comfortably with the scaled-down version of our material world.

In the midst of these reflections, I can't help but remember the 2 carry-ons, 2 suitcases, and 3 boxes that carried us in 1999 into our two automobile-free years in St. Andrews, Scotland.  We certainly are nowhere near that scaled-down this time around, but we are happy with another new beginning that has caused us once again on some level to reach at the heart of need and not the frivolity of want.  I welcome this practice at the start of another new season of life and hope that it sustains itself along the way.  Although, there is no doubt that I will happily enjoy the comfort and convenience of our two, "new-to-us" cars.