Building new things

In the spring of twenty six we embrace complexity. The very idea is a big change for two people - now three - who have forever sought to minimize. Approaches like ours, when repeated long enough, become ingrained below every decision. We leave the house daily with less than we expect to need. We bring a smaller bag than we probably should, or one fewer garment, or no umbrella, or no water, or no wipes. Occasionally the things we omit are critical, and our intentional but unnoticed minimalism is a source of frustration.

Mostly though we do not need to carry all the things we could think of to pack. On planes we are happy with three bags, with one backpack each, with less. On the road we wash clothes at friend’s houses, in hotels, in sinks. We wear dirty clothes to the park a second time, and sneakers to formal events. We give away clothes as soon as they are outgrown, and sneak well-used toys out of the house during nap time. We shed furniture with every move, only gradually re-purchasing basic essentials such as lights and chairs. The office chair we bought on arriving in Hong Kong in twenty eighteen we left behind when moving in twenty twenty two. Its replacement was finally purchased this Christmas, after moving back into that same apartment three years later. Likewise the story of our two year waiting period before purchasing a mirror in Japan is legendary.

And so it is odd this spring to accept some growth. It takes me weeks of consideration. New domains, new tax structures, new bank accounts - all these things feel like the burdens that they are, the digital weight of complexity that I’ll probably regret building. That I already regret building. And yet there’s an appeal, the draw of some structure, some seriousness to the oddly mobile life we’ve been working on. For a brief period I am not applying for visas: our HKIDs are now the permanent type and our return home cards for the mainland secured for the next five years. I’m not struggling with the complexity of multi-national taxes as an American abroad, having completed them for the year. I have the energy, thanks to this newly flexible working lifestyle, to pour through documents and consider implications. Some of this I do for others, negotiating vendor contracts and technical roadmaps. Some of this I do for us, in the best of ways. Investing our abilities in our own structures feels like the culmination of something, like an admission of competency.

It’s a good step, even if it feels too like an acceptance of weight.