Camping around the edges

 I can tell that I'm not entirely at home yet here at the church. I can tell because all the belongings we've brought up so far are congregated in little piles around the edges of rooms. They haven't been spread out to actually claim spaces, as if I'm afraid of encroaching on someone else's territory. In the kitchen I have a dozen cupboards but I'm only using three of them. The chairs in the rec room are lined up against one wall in a row like a theatre, waiting for someone to come on stage. A few items are piled at the bottom of the stairs, either newly arrived or heading home. It's like when you go to a hotel, and you don't transfer your belongings from the suitcase to the dresser because you think "I'm only here a short while." Or -- more likely -- "If I put stuff behind cupboard doors, I'll forget where I put them and leave something behind." There's that same sort of timidity going on here at the church. If I put bottled fruit in the cupboard, I'll immediately forget it's there. So I leave it out on the counter... My clothes are in the gym bag they came in even though I have perfectly adequate hangers and I'll be here for a week...The tools we leave here at the church to use are not in the utility room on the shelves meant for tools, but are congregated in a box in the rec room, as if we're afraid to let them out of sight...like new-born puppies we want to keep an eye on for a while.

It makes no sense, really. I'm not sure why the hesitation to expand and move in. Maybe the previous occupants haven't totally moved out? I'll know I'm totally, comfortably at home here when I no longer have to give much thought to the placement of objects. Until then, it still feels a bit like camping.

Well, and I'm sleeping in a sleeping bag. And there's a flashlight by the bed in case I have to get up at night, because I have no idea where the light switches are...So yeah, definitely still camping.