The Little Things

Since I can remember, I've felt a strong connection to the moon and water. It's no wonder being a Cancer. Ruled by the moon, water sign; the moon rules water. On full moons I often would sit in my bedroom as a child, long after I was supposed to be asleep, and just watch the moon and everything touched by it's light. The effects of water on me have always been profound, from being an early mermaid with my sister in my Papa's pool, a competitive swimmer 4th grade through college, and feeling the water in my body react and swell with the moons cycles. The idea of water as energy is a newer concept for me. I have no trouble accepting it, but first learning about water dousing from David blew my mind a little.

David's been taken under the wing of a dousing friend, and it was so fun to watch his results match almost exactly to the professional douser's. With our water mark painted on earth, a new unknown emerges. Our well will probably (hopefully) not be nearly as expensive as our driveway, but in having to choose between doing a well now and allotting that money towards finishing our guest house, the choice is a tough one.

All of these changes in our lifestyle since living in the camper have helped me both recognize our privilege and keep better perspective that we still have things that are easy to take for granted, even in our camper. Cold, clean flowing water from the tap. A shower at a friend's house, the water so scalding I can feel my skin cells tighten against one another, my scalp tingling. A waste disposal method that just carries the contents away to a place I can't see for someone else to manage. I'm not trying to glorify myself or say that I'm better than you because I'm more conscious. But can we all just take a moment to meditate on the miniscule luxuries the majority of us have learned to take for granted living in a 1st world country?

Along with no hot water in the camper, we also have no inside bathroom. The family that owned it prior to the last family we bought it from ripped it out to instead create a play space for their kids in 3/4 of the space below, and 1/4 of the rest of the top space converted to extra storage. This has been such a blessing. The perfect space to let Calla have her own hideaway for herself and friends. A dedicated cubby for her toys and dress-ups on colder days when she's not playing outside. Before buying the camper we did some serious soul-searching about whether we could handle not having the luxury of a

bathroom. We figured we were going to be living quite primitively at some point anyhow so we figured we might as well dive in. Behind our camper we built a cute A-frame outhouse with a composting toilet. We take showers when we can - we have a membership to a hotel pool in Asheville where we can swim and get clean after. Dinner at friend's houses with the bonus of bathing is so welcomed and appreciated.

I wash my dishes in a large stainless steel mixing bowl that nests perfectly in one side of our small camper sink. I boil a big kettle of icy cold well water, squirt in some biodegradable dish soap, and add a bit of cold water to cool it down. In the other side of the sink I set the soapy, scrubbed dishes in small batches and rinse with as low flow of water I can. We don't have the hot water line set up on our camper, and besides my hands going numb while rinsing dishes clean, I can't say we miss it.

In the last two homes we've dwelled in I shouldered a ridiculous amount of self-guilt in using the available dishwashers; a guilt surely only conjured in 1st world nations. As a mom, when I weigh the time spent washing dishes, versus time spent reading with Calla or spending time outside, the choice seems clear. I see why someone invented the clever tool in the rise of the convenience, consumer-driven era of machines=time/money saved. Dishwashers, microwaves, toaster ovens, washer machines. But often those machines mean greater wasted natural resources. There's always a trade-off. I've forgotten how meditative washing dishes by hand can be. The process is a daily ritual (realistically more than once a day) and one that I'm happy to return to.

Before becoming a mom, I used to use my dishwasher for storage of plastic bags and other items to recycle. But now with Calla being almost 4 soon, I want her to witness the simplicity of rituals she will soon take part in daily with me. To learn that living is messy. We clean up our messes ourselves and revel in the joy of it. The joy of the little things.

#plans #homesite #building #water #dousing #well #minimalism #primitiveliving #simplifying