Living in the Center of the Universe - Part One

The Road Before Us

It has been a year since Em Steel and I arrived in the Center of the Universe and to our surprise, it is a space of only 300 square feet.  We live in our own cozy nucleus within the energetic system of New York City. 

Belong.  Belonging.  Belongings.  Is it our belongings that make us who we are?  Or do they hold us back from our longings?  Em and I belong where we are right now, in this small apartment in the center of everything.  Everything!  The whole of New York City lies right outside our door. 

 

Here there is no room for extraneous stuff.  The cabinets store only enough for what is needed over the next couple of weeks. The closets limit clothing and shoes to the particular season outside the window.  I cannot hold on to that too small pair of pants while vowing to get down a size by summer. Pretty things in shop windows have no space on our shelves.  

What then to do with an entire house filled with our belongings 1100 miles away?  I have every card sent to my parents on the day I was born until my birthday last year.  Every report card, every "A" I ever earned.  Awards, little dresses my mother sewed for me, broken jewelry I thought I would get fixed one day, photos, paintings, pretty things that sit on my dressers, shelves of books, Christmas ornaments, a lifetime of collecting things that I really love.  I have every card that was sent to me when Emily was born, her homemade costumes and files full of her art and her "Walking Encyclopedia" award from kindergarten.

Em has her own collections that she has had no need to thin.  We have always had a central place that we could call home, for no matter how the road turned there was always a place we knew we belonged to and that held our belongings.

The logistics of the task before us kept me awake for months ahead of the action itself.  Having already sold my car do we fly back to Florida?  Baggage restrictions curtailed that option, not to mention renting a car, the cost of two round trip tickets for both of us and holding ourselves to a strict arrival and departure date was too limiting.  We had no idea what lay ahead.

I thought I could book a flight and drive a car back filled with what we could fit, but the cost of a one-way car rental was prohibitive. 

When we first moved to New York City, we travelled by train carrying 12 suitcases filled with what we thought we needed at the time.  Travelling with 12 suitcases is not a simple thing and the cost of train travel is not viable. 

So night after night I would either put off thinking  about what lay ahead or I would go over each option looking for the most cost effective, efficient and sensible plan. 

I finally settled on renting a car, driving to Florida and back to the city two weeks later.  We would need a ride while there and we would have a way to bring back what we decided to keep.  I reserved something full sized which meant a four door sedan.  Upon arriving at the rental garage the service rep suggested, without knowing the purpose of the trip, that I get a minivan with unlimited miles. It was perfect.  They even folded the seats away for us. 

 

For the first time in a year I was behind the wheel of a car and was looking for I-95 via the Jersey Turnpike in weather that varied between rain and fog with traffic that was light but very quick. White lines seemed to disappear on the wintered asphalt leaving me only the cars in front of me for navigation. 

This is a road I haven't been on before.