Artist and writer William Morris once said, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” I whispered these words to myself one warm May morning as I hauled boxes of my belongings into my uncle’s basement. He had generously offered to store 95 percent of what I owned.

Although I am not a packrat, I did value many of my more sentimental possessions, such as boxes of letters and photographs, keepsakes and treasures from my travels, as well as my artwork and supplies. I pared down what I could, but still ended up with a couple carloads of stuff. Then Kyle and I set out on our one-way road trip with the vague idea of moving to my hometown in Northern California. Beyond that, we had no concrete plans. It was a liberating and unnerving sensation.