Well, as of today, right around this time (6pm), we have officially been in our tiny home on our tiny RV-sized lot in the Animas Mobile Home Park for ONE YEAR. For as slow as the 10-week build period seemed, followed by a 3-week period of frustration in getting all of our utilities hooked up and functional, it’s hard to believe a whole year has gone by!
I have to say that it hasn’t exactly been the year we expected. In fact, almost nothing has gone the way we expected it to once we moved to Durango. There have been many challenges, but also many rewards.
It’s been a year of discovering what’s really important to us both, together and individually. It’s been a year of deprivation and financial struggle. It’s been a year of frustration that we’ve been unable to truly live the lifestyle we expected to live here. It’s been a year of pursuing our passions for teaching… Jim, math and me, Zumba… mostly to no avail. It’s been a year of missing our friends and family that we left behind in Boise.
That is the downside to our life over the last year. But there have been so many positives too! And after all, isn’t that what life is all about? Very few people live lives that are all sunshine and rainbows. There will also be rain and dark times. But, as one of my favorite quotes goes…
Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass… It’s about learning to dance in the rain.
I’m a positive person and I prefer to look on the bright side and always believe that better times are ahead. Meanwhile, I treasure every moment that I get to be alive and living this life in our dream town in our dream home!
So… it’s also been a year of incredible beauty in these mountains I love and along our wild and beautiful river. It’s been a year of meeting warm and wonderful and quirky people from all walks of life and always, always feeling welcome here in our new adopted town. It’s been a year of discovering how little we need to make us happy and how uninterested we are in living for “things.”
It’s been a year of treasuring the many small blessings we’ve had, from finding a stress-free place to live in our tiny when so many are struggling around the country to be accepted to absolutely knowing that what we have is enough… and that we are enough too.
What will the next year hold? Many adventures, hopefully! We want to continue to discover this beautiful southwest corner of Colorado, in all its beauty and history. We want to make big strides in digging ourselves out of debt once and for all, so that we can truly experience the financial blessings of going tiny.
We both hope to find more fulfillment and growth in our chosen passions of math, Zumba and Plexus. We hope to truly embrace the outdoor lifestyle we want, with plenty of hiking, backpacking, bicycling, skiing, snowshoeing, kayaking and paddle boarding on a consistent basis.
We plan to finish up finessing our outdoor space (it’s about 90% done, but there are still a few items). We plan to continue to refine our indoor living space in Harmony Haven, although we’re pretty darn happy with everything about the interior of our tiny home. But, there are always things that can be improved. For instance, we recently had to ask the builder to repair or replace our bathroom pocket door. We got a new door and love it! Big improvement!
So, as we go forward into our second year of living tiny, we are deliriously happy and hopeful that we will continue to embrace this lifestyle for as long as we live. It is, after all, perfect for US.
Until next time,
