My Huion Kamvas Pro 13 came in first. A pen display! A thing that has been on my wish list for a number of years, but which was always out of reach. Up to now! I gave it to myself as a gift by using the crypto I earned with blogging for this. Stupid? Well maybe I could have hodled to hitch a ride on the huge bitcoin rise that is expected. And which I definitely believe will come… But the other side is that I had it now, wanted to do this for years, and why not do it now!
I have always had to deny myself everything in recent years because the opportunity was simply not there. And now I have the opportunity, built myself up, so… I have given myself this and I am very happy with it.
No, it is not yet a high-quality drawing that I have made. I have let the drawing with pencil and paper devour for years. I just didn't do that anymore, my focus was more on photography and on my PC. The drawing was reduced to… just say… to ZERO! And I started to miss that more and more, but at the same time I didn't give myself the peace to do it. And I always wanted to draw digitally. Why necessarily digital? Just because I like it better ... And also for photo editing, for making composites this tablet is ideal. I want to make the leap to digital art, and yes ... I have a lot to learn in that. I will have to practice a lot for that, but oowww that is fun!
So I drew the car above on my new tablet. Pheww, it is not easy to try to build up my drawing skills again. Pick up where I left it years ago, well better to say, STARTING all over again. Get to know new programs, get used to this tablet. I was used to a Wacom Bamboo and this is quite a different experience. But it's fun to do!
But more fun has happened this week. Something I had not counted on, which I never expected and which I no longer dared to dream of. It is not for nothing that I drew a car!
After living without a car for five years ... a car has been parked in our driveway since last week! And no, that is not immediately a license to drive everywhere, although I would of course prefer to do that! But it is again an opportunity to go a little further away. If a dog needs to go to the vet urgently, we can now do that again. If we have to pick up something big that you can not bring with a scooter, we don't have to follow someone else to drive it, we can just go get it ourselves. And yes, of course we can also take the dogs to a nature reserve a bit further away for a nice walk. I can go again to the Maashorst, the nature reserve where I have always loved to be, and where my heart is. It gives back a bit of freedom and independence… and if you have lived without that feeling for five years, seeing that car in the driveway is really a kind of 'liberation'.
We bought the car on Tuesday afternoon. Driven together on the scooter to the garage and after everything was arranged my partner drove the car home. I drove home on the scooter and in the evening I went for a ride myself. Oh that sense of freedom I got ... I felt like a queen. And that feeling hasn't left me since then.
Funny… the last car we had was a large Citroen C5 station. Truly a dream car. Large, luxurious, lay like a dike on the road, drove so incredibly fine and everything easily fit in that car. The disadvantage was because that car was so big and heavy, we paid quite a lot of road tax, and the gasoline he consumed was no longer payable. With regret in our hearts, we had to sell it five years ago. And since then we have done everything without a car… which was often not easy.
Now our new car… that's a small Suzuki Alto! And seriously, I never really thought in my life that I would be so happy with a little Suzuki Alto. I hardly dare to say it… but I have always found those Alto's too little to buy. In my view, it was not a car I would ever want. Never have I driven such a small car. Always bigger and more luxurious.
But now, after five years without a car. Not having the luxury and freedom of a car for five years, not having a car every day for five years. Now I am happier with that little Suzuki Alto than I have ever been with that big Citroen C5. In the time of that C5, I had never been without a car for a day since getting my driver's license on my 20th. A car was normal and I didn't think about it. If I wanted to go I got in and drove where I wanted. I didn't have to think twice about how to get there. And if I wanted to get something, no matter how big, I got in my car and went to get it. I didn't have to think about that either. Yes, I was spoiled!
When that Citroen was sold, and so we suddenly no longer had a car after so many years with a car, that was a big step back. And the threshold that I had to cross to go somewhere was high, and it only grew. I know that it is said about Dutch that we all love bicycles, well I can tell you ... I don't! I don't have an electric bicycle, and with the strong wind that always blows in the polder afterwards, cycling is really not my hobby. So as a result, I left home less and less. Which is not always easy if you are highly sensitive. Getting TOO many stimuli makes me tired, but getting TOO little stimuli makes me withdraw into myself and as a result I get more and more trouble doing things. The thresholds are only getting higher and higher, and it took more and more effort to do something. Fortunately it improved a bit when I got the option of a scooter. This allowed me to do a bit more again, but even with a scooter you are still limited in the distances, so my activities were limited within a small radius around the house. And on a scooter it is still not possible to bring 3 dogs. Not even 1 shepherd fits on a scooter. So my activities with the dogs all took place within walking distance of our house for the past 5 years. Which I found very unfortunate, especially because I know so many nicer places where they could also romp in the water, and my desire for a car grew more and more every day. It's not even because I would be too lazy to walk or cycle. On the contrary ... I love to walk. But a car gives you freedom, you no longer have any limitations … and the latter, that's what I need. That feeling that I'm not limited.
No, I have not yet gone to the Maashorst with the dogs. I want to wait until we can do that together ... because it has also been five difficult years for my partner. And that first time that we go away with all three dogs ourselves, with our own car. I want to share that feeling of freedom with him. No more limitations, and no more worries about “What if a dog needs to go to a vet urgently”.
We both never thought to be so happy with a little Suzuki Alto. But now we are very happy with it. Knowing what it's like not having a car anymore makes you thankful for the car you never thought you'd buy. And we are so happy that we said…
