I am now getting close to ten years as a homeless person.  That’s not a fair  statement because I feel like I’m trivializing homelessness and I have great compassion for all of the truly homeless people out there.  It is true that I haven’t had “my own place” during this time but I haven’t really been homeless.  


In Sept, 2006 I moved out of my residence in Phoenix, having lived in that region for thirty years.  I never lived in that house again having rented it out during the eight years that it was “under water” due to the crash of 2008 and finally selling it in 2015.  During the nine plus years since moving from Phoenix, I have lived, for various lengths of time, in NJ, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Ghana (check out my Peace Corps tab if you’d like to know about that 26 month experience,) South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Costa Rica (check out my Costa Rica tab for info on the retreats I lead there.)  I never rented or owned a dwelling in any of those places but I always had a comfortable place to live and it always felt like “home”.  As I’ve said in a previous post, I feel like home is wherever I am.


As I enter into 2017, however, I’m feeling like this will be the year that I put down roots again and finally open those boxes.  If you’ve followed my blog, you know that I have far less “stuff” than the average bear but there are still boxes waiting with little surprises in each one that I’ll remember with glee (I hope!)  No matter where I’ve gone, there is always that delightful period of time where I make the dwelling my “home”.  Moving into a place that I intend to stay for a longer period of time, that process becomes even more delightful and, somehow, meaningful.


When I mention this feeling to people, I invariably, and quite understandably, get asked where I would like to live.  What country?  What state?  Ocean, mountains, forest or desert?  Some place I’ve been or something new?  Based on weather, topography, tax structure, a base of friends or cost of living?  Most people don’t really get it when I say that I won’t choose a place to live based on any of that.  In fact, I won’t choose a place at all.  I feel like I’m being led by Spirit which will direct me to the most fitting place for me to be at this time in my life.  


Does it really matter where I live?  I suppose it does for a lot of people.  Some just need to be near family.  Some are nurtured by the ocean, mountains, forest, or desert.  Some need to be close to work.  Probably lots of good reasons to choose your location.  For me, though, it just doesn’t matter.  If I settle someplace close to friends and family, that’s a bonus.  I find sustenance in all of creation so I’ll love it if I’m near water, mountains, forest, or desert.  I must say that I’d prefer a place with little or no snow (I swore that I gave up my snow shovel for good 40 years ago!) but I’d go there if I felt drawn in that direction.


The place that has been coming up in my consciousness the most is Ashville, NC.  I’ve never lived there, though I have visited for a couple of days and I know two people who live there now.  I don’t know much about the cost of living, tax structure, local attractions, available housing, or anything else about the area.  It simply feels to me like that’s where I’m headed - probably in the spring or summer of this year. 

As my good friend and mentor Jim Wellemeyer always said, “We’ll see.”