A Tale Of Two Houses

For my kids, it's the day before the last day of school. Sennen graduates elementary school this year! It's a big deal and he's very ready to move on to middle school.

Today summer begins and I depart for Patmos. Patmos has become something between an annual trip and a return home. Oddly, I own the house there outright and here – for a complicated set of legal reasons – I rent. Last summer was an adventure in figuring out HOW to improve my house which led to 9.5 months of getting many of the actual improvements done from remote including, but not limited to delivery of furniture, diagnosing the dishwasher, purchasing and delivering a new dishwasher and most significantly – remodeling of the kitchen and bathroom. In theory – I'm returning to my house that is more or less the way I want it which also means a home that reflects me more so than the one in which I spend most of the year.

It's a summer away! It's a return home! It's a summer away! It's a return home!  Stop, you're both right.

To be sure, Patmos isn't all vacation. It's sort of like living life within a vacation. I still work and keep up with the demands of the world. It's ten weeks after all. But with days that are night at home and an environment that's more of a daydream than anything else, it's hard not to feel like I'm always on vacation.

For the kids  - who come during the second half of summer (July 17 to August 18), Patmos is absolutely a living playground or a like stepping into an alternate reality. That too is a major source of enjoyment for me because we get to spend our summer in not just another country, but another world – one fit for a Steven Spielberg coming of age story. For the kids, Patmos is freedom and fun. It's not just another house – but another kind of home.

Mainly, Patmos is just more livable. The pace, people, beauty, simplicity – it's a world I can enjoy each day. And so, with new floors, wall tiles, countertops and a completely renovated bathroom – I will. Will there still be adventures in figuring out how things are done? Inevitably. But perhaps less so than last summer. Without jinxing it, I'm looking forward to a summer where the house is something to be enjoyed, not as much of a project.

In fact, I have a few goals for the Patmos house: to enjoy it, to share it with friends and family and to Airbnb if it would otherwise be idle. This summer I have a few people to share with. Obviously, the kids. My mom who will come for about 12 days at the end of my solo time, through when I return to Westlake to pickup the kids and then for another week with all of us. Matheus, one of our former au pairs who spent summer 2019 on Patmos with our family will come for a few days in late July. Possibly my buddy Ziv in Israel – TBD. And for the first two weeks, Michelle who I've been seeing since March.

Out of care and respect for a relationship that isn't that far along, I'm not going to write Michelle in to the extent I often do with others. But it's also worth noting she'll be around until July 2nd and she'll inevitably make her way into at least some of the narrative. 

As to the Airbnb goal, that's the main project for the summer. Now that the house is in order, I need to photograph it, get a listing up and see if it's still possible to cash in on some of that juicy August business. Patmos has a shorter tourist season than some of the bigger and better known islands like Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Crete, Paros and Corfu. August is THE prime month when every bit of lodging is taken and the island's population swells from its baseline 3,000 to 20,000. Since the kids and I depart on August 16th, that leaves almost half the month available to cash-in. And while September is a far less busy month, it still has tourism and the opportunity to generate decent revenue. So I'd like to explore all of that this summer. 

Whatever lies in store this summer, I know we'll have community. The kids and I now have community on Patmos. We know neighbors, business owners, community members who have made us feel welcome and with whom we're comfortable. One of my favorite parts of last summer was how after I took the kids home, so many Patmians came up to me to say how wonderfully behaved my kids are and how much they enjoyed them. It was very sweet and a great result for a first summer of home ownership on the island.

However, for this first half of the summer, it will be me, Michelle, maybe Ziv, and my mom (not all at once). I'll get the house settled and organized into the home I've been envisioning. That in and of itself will be very sweet.

 And the journey continues….