02 July 2010
In our household, what you value is what you do, so when I waved goodbye to the removal truck this week, I know that I value moving since we’d moved 26 times in six months.
Fortunately I hadn’t packed up our household 26 times, all our furniture had been in storage, but we’ve stayed in 26 locations since January. From harbour views of the quaint fishing village of Kalk Bay; to the blustery west coast’s picturesque view of Table Mountain welcoming the world to our city; to the rose-coloured sunset over the Tshwane bushveld.
I have to tell you, I didn’t always believe this philosophy, when Jeremy Barty first began work on the MyCube and C-Cubed grid seven years, I was a workaholic, but of course I valued my daughter more than work. I was his biggest sceptic. In the last seven years, the product has chyrstalised into a tool that has been a highly significant lever for change and transformation in the lives of our business colleagues, clients and friends, me included.
At the beginning of the year we sold our house and opted not to move anywhere permanently as a large contract with Momentum was looming and we wanted to be free to move where that job would take us. We decided the year would be one of mobility and travel and I started a blog on the Homeless Series.
Well the Homeless Series is now over, and I have to confess although I have thrilled at opening every box, I feel a faint sense of loss to the freedom that 2010 has been. In the language of MyCube, my aspired value was for travel and mobility and yet so much of life speaks counter to this notion. Where our children go to school, where we build community, what is familiar; are all funnels that pour us into a space to which we glug satisfactorily.
We had the privilege of grabbing hold of this aspired value and making it become true value – something we could see as evidence in our lives.
So what did I value in this time? Life was way more simple, after move no 10, I trimmed our luggage to a small suitcase each, which made getting ready in the morning really easy as choice was limited! The challenge was the cold fronts in April and May when all our warm clothes were in storage. Good excuse to go shopping!
I valued being a tourist in my own country, viewing every move and new location as an opportunity to discover something new – Voortrekker Monument, Freedom Park, Apartheid Museum, Philansburg Nature Reserve, Sun City, Rietvlei Nature Reserve, Planetarium, Museum.
I valued my family that provided the floaters for stabilization. I valued Woolies ‘ready-to-go’ meals.
I valued being counter-culture from the perspective of ownership, mobility, travel and new relationships.
But I’m home now, for the time being anyway.
