On becoming a snail

Hello Everyone,

You know who's got life really figured out? Snails. Granted, they move at such an infuriatingly slow pace that the term "a snail's pace" is rarely a compliment. But where many people see a slow poke, I see an adventurer.

Lots of animals roam, but most have to come back to a den or nest or hole in the ground. Not snails. They're free to pull up stakes and strike off to find a new adventure every day, provided that adventure is only a few paces from where they started. By carrying their homes on their backs, they might be slow, but every day they can head some place new and experience a different part of the garden. Birds have wings, but snails have freedom.

A few years ago, when I moved from a house with a big kitchen, living room, dining room, backyard, basement, etc., to a one-bedroom apartment, I really felt like it was a demotion in life. Like going from having your own space to living in the equivalent of a dresser drawer, stacked next to a bunch of other people. But that's not what happened.

Moving to a small space led to a better life. There were whole sections of my old house that I was never using, but was still paying for and had to maintain. We all know that resources are not infinite, so looking after a big house was eating up a lot of my time and money. Having less space that was my own meant that I had more time that was my own. That's why the move has been successful. Given the option, I wouldn't go back. I'm now in the planning stages of another similar downsize. It's going to be another order of magnitude smaller than the space I'm currently in, and I'm hoping for a corresponding increase in adventure. It's the snail's life for me. I'm going to carry my home on my back. Technically, the back of a cool pick up truck, but you know what I mean. As it's still in the planning phase, I can't yet provide any solid details on my new home. I'm not sure that snails have the same problems finding the right shell as I have in finding the right camper, so perhaps a better analogy is that I'm becoming like a hermit crab. That might also better describe my personality as well, now that I think of it. wes

#Adventures