The Week It Finally Slowed Down (A Little) | Week 27 Post-layoff

We finally felt it this week—the first hint of a slower pace.

For months we’ve been pushing: preparing for a layoff, preparing our house to go on the market, showing our house, closing on our house, downsizing, estate sales, packing, and moving into a temporary tiny home. It’s been one task after another, and the to-do list rarely let up.

But here in Week 27, something shifted.
Not everything is done, but things aren’t as urgent.
Not everything is figured out, but we’re learning to breathe anyway.

It’s the first time we’ve felt a little “semi-retired”—still working, still building—but mostly on our schedule.

☀️ A Week in Small Moments

On Friday morning, we grabbed our metal detector and explored a nearby city park—something we haven’t had time to do in months. The weather was perfect, the dogs were excited to sniff their way through a new park and for a moment, it didn’t feel like we were in transition at all.

We took our first walks without the dogs in weeks-working on their separation anxiety.
We cooked all of our meals at home—simple, cozy food like burritos and “souped-up” soup and pesto toast.
We even managed a nap.

We're becoming known in the community as “the couple who hangs out on the community center porch.” We don’t have our own outdoor space in this rental, so we’ve made the shared patio our spot—and apparently, others have noticed!

🚛 What’s Still in Motion

There’s still plenty to finish:

• Moving our camper and camping gear to a nearby storage unit
• Closing out that old storage location before the end of the month
• Wrapping up some lingering client and personal bookkeeping
• Giving the dogs a much-needed nail trim (they hope that is the lowest task on the list!)

And we're still waiting.
Our tiny home is being built, and it won't be ready until August. Early August? Mid August-we don't know yet. So, for now, this rental is our landing pad—and we’re making it work.

🌀 What We’re Learning

Slowing down is hard.
We’ve been on the go for over 30 years—always pushing forward, always juggling too many responsibilities. Living rural, in a community like this, things move at a different pace. We’re not used to it yet-but we like it!

We remembered a family camping trip where our whole family drove somewhere for a long weekend out in the woods. The property caretaker was surprised to see all of the cars pull up and said to us: "ok, hang on, everything is happening at once!" not realizing we were all part of the same group. We now understand why it felt that way to him.

We’re adjusting to this rhythm.
And it’s clear: this slower lifestyle isn’t about doing nothing. It’s about doing enough—and giving yourself the space to enjoy the rest.

💡 What We Realized This Week

We don’t miss the bigger house.

We don’t miss wondering if the pool skimmer is clogged, if the water’s too low, or whether the shade sail will survive a gusty day. We don’t miss the maintenance. The anxiety. The cost.

We’re still in disbelief that we’re debt-free.
It probably won’t feel real until we’re settled into our new space and see what our new cost of living looks like—with no property taxes, no pool treatments, lower electricity bills and less everything.

That will be a post all its own.

This week we also finalized details with the tiny home property owners for our future carport and deck—something we were anxious about, since we weren’t sure if the lot we chose was large enough for everything we had planned.

But everything fit.
And we feel like we're fitting in here too.

🐾 A Slow Week, But a Meaningful One

This wasn’t a flashy week.
But it was full of real life: client work, morning walks, chores, simple meals, porch-sitting, and moments of unexpected joy and relief.

On Saturday, we fully leaned into the rhythm.

We hit up a small farm stand for tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh-picked blueberries, and a loaf of homemade herb & spice sourdough. Then we swung by our favorite local farmers market and loaded up on squash, zucchini, potatoes, eggplant and those grape tomatoes we can’t stop eating like chips.

Bryan worked magic with our haul—chopping and roasting veggies, preparing the cucumber tomato salad for our avocado toast breakfast, and building the kind of soft tacos that hold you all day long.

I knocked out a few hours of client work while he meal prepped. Later, we stocked up on a few essentials at Costco, walked the dogs, and met two new residents just by doing laps around the neighborhood.

It was simple. Nourishing. Social. Human.

We’re starting to feel the in-between soften.
And even though there’s still work to do, it feels good to pause, look around, and say:

“We’re not there yet, but we’re okay here.”

✉️ Coming Up in This Week’s Newsletter:

In our next “Insider” email, we’ll share:

• The full story behind our meeting with the property owners and what almost derailed our plans
• A few real numbers behind our evolving cost of living goals
• The story of the roadrunners and the soup 😄

Missed last week’s update? Catch up here. Subscribe if you haven’t—this part of the journey gets good.

-Kathy & Bryan

This post is part of our Midlifehood Transition series, documenting our journey from traditional homeowners to tiny home living after an unexpected layoff. Follow along for real-time updates as we move into the tiny home rental this week on Facebook and Instagram as we navigate this life change together.

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