Between Worlds - Midlifehood Edition | Week 14 Post-layoff

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." — John Lennon

There's a unique sensation that comes with living between two worlds—standing with one foot in your current life and the other in the future you're creating. This week, we experienced exactly that as our house officially hit the market and we spent our first weekend in the tiny home community where we'll eventually live.

The contrast couldn't have been more striking. Our current home, now pristinely staged and depersonalized for strangers to imagine their lives within its walls. And simultaneously, our future home community, where we got a taste of the simpler, more intentional lifestyle waiting for us.

It was a week of discussions, decisions, anxious anticipation, and ultimately, peaceful acceptance of the journey we're on.

This Week's Reality Check:

• ✓ Tiny home design estimate came in under budget
• ✓ Current home staged, completed professional photo shoot and listing went live
• ✓ Home inspector gave our house an "A" (showing "that we loved it and took care of it")
• ✓ Spent our first weekend at the tiny home community in their "Tinytel"
• ✓ First showing completed (though not quite as many as anticipated)
• ✓ My passport finally arrived—a full month after Bryan's

What We're Actually Doing:

Designing Our Future, Quite Literally

Sunday presented us with a fitting start to the week as we drove out to the tiny home community to work on our build estimate and tour available lots. For three hours, we moved through the detailed process of custom home building, scaled down to 399 square feet—roofing materials, cabinet styles, fixtures, countertops, backsplash, flooring, lighting. The decisions seemed endless.

In some cases, we went with standard offerings; in others, we upgraded. By the end, we had designed a home that perfectly fits our lifestyle and, perhaps most satisfyingly, came in under budget. Going through this process provided a welcome counterbalance to the uncertainty of how quickly our current house might sell and also a symmetry between preparing to leave one home while designing another.

The Final Push to "Market Ready"

Monday through Wednesday became a blur of activity—bookkeeping work interspersed with the final preparations for listing our home. The pre-listing inspection on Tuesday confirmed what we hoped: the inspector gave our house an "A" and noted that "it shows that you loved it and took care of it." After nine years of careful maintenance and improvements on a home we thought we'd live out our remaining years in, this validation felt particularly sweet.

The home stager arrived Tuesday afternoon and spent three hours rearranging furniture, removing personal items, and creating a neutral canvas for potential buyers. We were pleasantly surprised that there wasn't an overwhelming pile of items for us to sort through and move to the garage—a testament to our many weeks of preparation.

Wednesday brought the photo shoot, which lasted nearly three hours. The photographer moved methodically through each room and exterior, capturing our home at its most pristine. When he showed us a preview of the photos, we could hardly believe it was the same place we've lived in for so many years. It looked like a model home—beautiful, but no longer quite ours.

As soon as he left, we quickly pulled animal food bowls, beds, toys and bathroom toiletries back out so we could enjoy our evening before packing up for our weekend away. My passport finally arrived that day too—a full month after Bryan's, despite submitting them at the same time. The universe's final lesson in patience before our adventures begin.

Thursday evening, we loaded up the two dogs and the cat and headed to the tiny home community, where we'd rented one of their "Tinytel" units for the weekend. This would serve both as a mini-vacation and as a strategic move to be away from the house for the first weekend of showings.

Just before we left, our realtor stopped by to place the sign in the yard and share the final listing price determined by the selling team. The digital listing went live that evening, and we watched with a mixture of excitement and anxiety as the Zillow views and saves began to accumulate. By bedtime, we had our first showing notifications for Friday.

A Taste of Tiny Living

After unpacking at the Tinytel and taking the dogs for a walk around the property, we settled in with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The animals were a bit unsettled by the new environment, but we were all exhausted enough to sleep well despite the unfamiliar surroundings.

When Plans Meet Reality

Friday and Saturday brought a hard lesson in managing expectations. Despite the flurry of online activity and two scheduled showings on Friday, neither actually materialized—one rescheduled to Saturday, and the other simply didn't show up or respond to our realtor's follow-up.

It would have been easy to feel discouraged after all the work we'd put in, but being away from the house and immersed in the peaceful tiny home community provided valuable distraction and perspective. We spent our days taking leisurely walks around the lake with the dogs, driving to nearby towns for meals, hunting for treasures in parks with our metal detector, and doing something we rarely allow ourselves to do at home—watch funny movies in the middle of the afternoon.

The rescheduled showing finally happened Saturday evening—our first official showing! It appeared to be an agent previewing the house for their client, a small step but still progress.

As we walked around the tiny home community's five-acre lake Saturday evening, a profound sense of peace settled over me. We realized that whether our house sells quickly or takes months, our end destination remains the same—this tranquil community where life moves at a gentler pace and focuses on what truly matters.

The Art of Being Present

Perhaps the most unexpected gift of the weekend was the opportunity to simply be present. Away from the constant tasks of maintaining a show-ready home, without our usual routines and responsibilities, we found ourselves fully enjoying simple pleasures—watching ducks on the lake, savoring takeout meals, laughing at silly movies.

In those moments, I couldn't help but think of The Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road" that we heard on the radio on the drive out to the tiny home community. The song captures so perfectly this journey we're on—reminding us that navigating a path that isn't direct or straightforward, experiencing periods of waiting and anticipation, and ultimately trusting that this winding road leads to where we're meant to be. Like the song suggests, the journey itself holds meaning, even with its unexpected turns and emotional landscapes.

In this in-between place we currently occupy—no longer fully in our old life but not yet in our new one—there are unique gifts if we're present enough to receive them.

Book Recommendations for the "Between Worlds" Journey

I've discovered a few books that speak to this transitional space we're inhabiting. While I haven't had a chance to read them yet, I'm adding these titles to my reading list:

- "Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes" by William Bridges – This classic explores the psychological process of transition, particularly the "neutral zone" between endings and new beginnings.

- "The In-Between: Embracing the Tension Between Now and the Next Big Thing" by Jeff Goins – A book directly addressing how to find meaning in liminal spaces rather than rushing through them.

If you've read these or have other recommendations for navigating life's "between worlds" moments, we'd love to hear your thoughts!

Let's Talk:

The experience of living between worlds has taught us so much about what we truly value. Have you ever experienced living 'between worlds'—where you're simultaneously letting go of one chapter while creating another? What helped you navigate that transition?

When your plans don't unfold exactly as expected (like our missing showings), how do you recalibrate without losing sight of your ultimate destination?

What possessions or routines from your current life would you most want to maintain if you were downsizing dramatically?

Looking Forward:

Next week we'll return to our staged home and attempt to live normally while keeping it show-ready—an interesting challenge with two dogs and a cat! We'll continue monitoring showing activity to help determine the timing for officially ordering our tiny home build.

We'll also keep working through drawers and cabinets, selecting what truly deserves to come with us to our new, smaller life. Each item we decide to keep or let go brings us one step closer to our future.

Until next week, remember that sometimes the most valuable moments happen in the in-between places—when you're not quite where you were, but not yet where you're going. These transition spaces, uncomfortable as they sometimes feel, often contain unexpected wisdom if we're willing to pay attention.

Here's to choosing our own path together.

Note: This post is part of our weekly "Reinventing Midlifehood" series, chronicling our journey of intentional living and rediscovering what matters after a midlife career transition.

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