Malia and I live in a small house. Our house is probably somewhere in the 500 to 600 square foot range, it has a big bathroom, a huge closet (nothing you can walk into but there is definitely miscellanies storage space in there) We don’t own a tv but use our computer as our tv because one more screen would be just ridiculous. We have just enough space for everything we could ever want to have but not enough space for the things we really desire. There is clearly a level of comfort found in our home that is absent in homes with a den, or a foyer, or a sitting room. If your house has more than a room, my house is more cozy than yours. When anyone who isn’t like malia or I sees our house they immediately think that we are nuts for living in such a small space. Even our landlords question our sanity, and they own the house. We barrow a kitchen table and four chairs. We don’t own our entertainment center or our blanket chest. We love our home, honestly as we look to leave on mission, leaving our tiny little flat is the thing I am most sad about.
When we look at our home it is so huge, and we could be on an episode of hoarders. There is always a this or that, that we have been meaning to take to goodwill or sell. The couch is just right but really it is too big. The bed is cheep and lumpy but could we survive with something smaller? The entertainment center is my parents and while it works really well for us, it isn’t ours and we know we are always being “helped” by borrowing it. It works for books trinkets and paper work there is shelf space and book space all in one unit. But it isn’t ours and it is really really big. We want to make something that works better for us. We want something smaller and more perfect something more custom to us. Nooks and crannies for us to hide things in, loose things in, space to spill a cup of tea or wine and not worry about ruining the keyboard. We want to have a shelf for each thing not things that fit on a shelf. Does that even make sense? Its not that we want everything to have its own shelf its that we want a shelf that works for the things that we have. Like if we were to buy something new we would have to make it a new shelf not find a shelf that works for it. I don’t know how to explain it, I want to make stuff that works, not make it work (said in tim gunn voice)
There are two problems with our couch, it is too deep and too long. (Ya I know I read the joke too) it takes up so much space and you cant store anything in it. Its like a tetris piece that doesn’t fit. So what do you do when you don’t like something that you bought from goodwill two years ago? You break it and you make your own. Our landlords have a bunch of pallets that they were going to burn, so we are going to take pallet wood and build a new couch. Guess what, even if it sucks we will love it because we made it and it will be exactly what we want it to be. 1)free 2) have storage space 3)be made by us 4) have incorporated shoe box 5)be smaller than our current couch is. You just can’t beat that. It will be a wonderful 1.0 couch for us to have so that when we are at our next place we already know the pitfalls of the design and how to improve it. All the wood will be reclaimed, originally we had planned to use 1 sheet of plywood on the front and back of the couch but then we decided that was like only selling out a little... Its still selling out so we still don’t want to do it. PLUS WE GET TO DESTROY AND CANNIBALIZE OUR CURENT COUCH!!!!! Its going to take longer than we would normally be willing to wait, as we have to let wood dry, wash wood, re-dry wood and so forth, but we are willing to do it because it fits our tiny house lifestyle.
If there are two things wrong with our couch then I can honestly say that there is only 1 thing that is wrong with our flat as a whole. It presents its self in two ways. 1) there is no bathtub 2)there is no clothes washer. Aside from the proximity to our parents and the two aforementioned items, this flat is perfect, if it had a bathtub and a washer we probably wouldn’t leave on mission. Those are the two manifestations of the 1 problem, that being that the septic thank is not big enough. We are both kind of snobs and there is nothing better, more sexy, more relaxing, rejuvenating that a soak in a claw foot bathtub. Whoever made the first advert advising people away from claw foot bathtubs should be brought back to life a killed again just so that he could be punished for killing the claw foot. Malia and I both always dream about being able to take an immersion soak in the tub together with a glass on wine and just talk about our days. If you find yourself with the urge to say “why don’t you just get a hot tub?” I want you to walk outside and I want you to walk into traffic because a bathtub and a hot tub are so vastly different on every level! You will notice that I didn’t mention anything about a dryer. This place doesn’t need a dryer. You can line dry your clothes, if I got what I wanted we would have a small clothes washer and we would line dry everything we owned. All I want is for the ability to upgrade the septic tank, put in a bathtub and a washer and seriously I might never move out and Ill just grow old and die in this flat.
We have a million ideas, we have a million projects, we have desires fo days. We have the rest of our lives. I hope we are constantly getting rid of things and living the life we more want to live each and every day. My mom recently asked me if I was just running away by going abroad to go on mission. As though I couldn’t hack it in America so I felt the need to leave for an easier life in a third world country. This caught me off guard as a stupid question, no one would run away to a harder life. While our new life will be harder it will have its purks. We want to try to be in the city so that we can have bikes, anyone who has every heard me talk knows that I think riding a bike is a form of torture only reserved for masochist and villainous dictators. But I want to be as carbon neutrual as I can so we will get bikes and we will make a trailer and anything that I need to haul will be on my bike. This house, we hope will be our biggest house if and when we move we would like to not have a larger space; maybe a loft for rory but thats it. We have ideas and they will work where ever we go, Alaska-yurt, upstate newyork-shipping container, Italy- wine cellar. With every move I hope to have more ideas fleshed out for small home living and more comfort knowing that I can spend more time with my family because my wife and I are not spending all our time at work trying to pay rent for a house we are never in.
Malia works 20 hours a week, I work about 17 sometimes 20. It would be great if those hours were during the same hours of the day but this way we don't have to get rory into daycare. Malia goes to work in the morning and I go to work at 1, we both get alone time with rory and we both get time away from the family. We make enough money, maybe just enough but enough money all the same. We have lights, phones, food and diapers. We have bills and yes it would be nice to get rid of them but sé la vi, we live the life we want to. We aren’t stuck in some big house, we aren’t stuck in 40 hour a week jobs that leave us too tired to use all the money we have. When I say I want a bike im realistic, I want a bike that costs like 100 dollars tops, not $1500 mountain crushing beast, because I don’t crush mountains, I just want to get to the grocery store and back.
“It won’t always be and easy life but it will be a good life.”
Rory has two teeth. Therefore he is a grump perpetually upset about how sore his tongue is from licking his two new teeth and from the bone growth in his jaw. His teeth are razor sharp, not an actual razor but if he bites down hard, There will be Blood. We have our home and our one door frame from which to hang his jumper; its the bathroom door so you can’t really utilize the room if your shy. We have dishes in the sink, they are a collection of what we have cooked and drank since Sunday, It is now Thursday. We have carpet floors covered in drool, hair, coffee and tea spills, books and jacket covers, clean clothes, dirty clothes, burp rags and swaddles. Our house isn’t dirty despite what you might think, or what you have just read, even if you ask malia; our house isn’t dirty. I wouldn’t lick the floors, nor would I serve spaghetti upon them. But the 5 second rule is on hiatus until we sweep, mop, vacuum.
Our house is lived in the blankets are there to be used by anyone who is cold because the fire isn’t supposed to be on, so unless we are baking the house is a balmy high of 60 on a good day. Propane is expensive and as it is also used to heat the water we try to use the heat sparingly to keep our bills at a manageable level. Socks are an everyday requirement even if your desired footwear is flip flops otherwise known as thongs to those of us who remember. A flannel or a sweatshirt is often thrown over whatever you are wearing at the moment because there is no reason to get drool on the clothes you want to wear in public and also because it gives you another barrier against the cold. Rory sleeps in a minimum of two layers with socks, two swaddles and either rapped in a blanket or if in our bed half under the covers for warmth just to make sure that he doesn’t get cold in the night. If either malia or myself gets the opportunity for a shower we make sure to leave the bathroom door open so that any heat that escapes, can at least enter into the house. This means that the kitchen fan is always running to try and suck some of the moisture out of the air so that we don’t have mold issues during the winter.
Rory wakes up at 5 most days and if we are quick we can trick him into at least another hour or two of sleep, but sometimes we aren’t and that means that he gets to play with his stuffed donkey our landlords got him for christmas. It is a strange scene to wake up to having your hair pulled or getting slapped in the face by a sopping wet donkey tail. Hair pulling is rude, but slobber in the morning is just unappreciable. The sheets are always askew as one of us is invariably climbing in and out of bed every few hours. There is an exercise ball in the living room (rachel’s favorite chair in the house) if only it were there for exercise. When Rory wakes up in the night to be comforted because of a bad dream or because a tooth is sore, as the waking parent you then scoop him up and take him in your arms to the green ball. There you snuggle and bounce, gently like the bobbing of a boat on water, this will lull him back to sleep and he can be re-swaddled and placed between Malia and I in our bed. The damage however has already been done. This ball is cold and I for one never sleep in pants so as I tiredly carry my son into the living room I have the horrid anticipation of feeling that cold ball on my thighs. Bouncing up and down, cold night air all around in a matter of moments you are chilled to the core. On bad nights the second you fall asleep again and think you might be warm Rory will wake up again.
This is our life. A baby hammock hanging in the living room, more expensive than both our mattress and bed frame. For a baby who spends most nights in bed with us. Laundry once a week because there isn’t room for a washer and dryer in our small flat. Dishes done by hand when we get the chance, brain washing us at the same time, “who needs a dishwasher what a waste!” Coffee in the last remaining clean mugs more often than not being the signal that dishes need to be done. Fueling discussions of self sustainability, mission locations, books read and to be read, plans for homeschooling and nostalgic talk of a nomadic future. The scariest sound being that of a waking baby signaling that our daydreams must come to an end because there is a baby who would like to play. Canasta cards rest on the moleskine of game scores just waiting for someone to shuffle them, so that another game to 50,000 can start. Frog and toad, Calvin and Hobbs complete collection, spanish Whinnie-the-Pooh and The Lord of the Ring all tucked strategically under the bed by the shelf on the couch for easy access when anyone in the family needs story time. Monday morning meetings where Malia and I sync our planners and plan dinners together, schedule meetings, plan emails, phone calls and prayer requests. We primarily set those meetings via twitter and often go weeks without talking to anyone in person. Most of our business is conducted via the main computer, skyping people in other countries comparing video chat backdrops, trying to keep Rory quiet so he doesn’t cancel out what they are saying. Over the past 4 months we haven’t met anyone new that is less than a 5 hour flight away from us. Rory prefers people to be on the screen, than in person.
This is our life, it is messy, busy, tiring, dirty, exhausted and wonderful. My wife works two doors down from me, if Rory is asleep we can clean our whole house in about thirty minutes. We are a one car family who has the ability to write a manifest about the things they would like to change. Like no paper in the kitchen, no paper towels, no paper napkins, no paper plates (unless your having pizza, pizza tastes better on paper) 2) compost, 3)always grow something be it spring onions and basil in the window, or tomato plants in the garden by the door, we will always grow something we can eat. We have the ability to buy organic when we can. We buy flour by the 50 lb. sacks because we don’t buy baked goods from the store. We only buy “green” cleaning products even if they are more expensive (baking soda and vinegar do pretty much anything) last night we went out to eat for the first time in six months, because we can make better food at home for a lot less money and we don’t have to wear pants. While Rory often gets up at 5 or 6 or 7 for Malia and I getting up early is getting up before 9, so we are morning people now. We love our life, we know it will only get better from here as we move towards leaving on mission. We don’t have a location as of yet, but whether its in Africa, India, Mexico or Jamaica, whether we find work in a vineyard or in a church, whether we will be poorer then than we are now.
My uncle once told me “Your going to have a good life, I didn’t say it was always going to be an easy life, but mark you are going to have a good life.” I truly believe that. Our lives are good, they will continue to be good and hopefully someday we will die happy.
