Eliza Brownhome

In the summer of 2002 Aaron and I bought a 40 foot, 72 passenger yellow Bluebird school bus and decided to convert it. It was an impulsive decision and it might seem obvious to some, but we didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves into. We named her Eliza Brownhome, parked her in East Vancouver, moved in (perhaps a little prematurely?) and started work on the conversion. Along the way we added a black lab named Scoobie and our son Rain, via home birth. We shared our corner of paradise with my sister and her four kids and stayed for 5 years. Somewhere in there we started to be known as the bus people.

Today, I find myself in a duplex, made of vinyl siding, in a cul-de-sac far from my East Van, Trout Lake, garden full of children and a converted school bus life and I wonder how we define ourselves from here on out. How does your home reflect who you are? Is it just shelter or something more?

Past and present identities juxtaposed. Complex. Duplicity. Duplexity.

1. 

   Melanie says:

   February 18, 2009 at 8:46 pm

   And back here in East Van, where we grow children in the garden, we miss the bus people.

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2. 

   bluebirdmama says:

   February 19, 2009 at 9:04 am

   I guess that explains why there was always so many kids there – that was a pretty prolific garden.

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