For years I’ve wondered what it would be like to have more than one home. Hardly a day goes by that you don’t hear of some famous person or wealthy impresario who has purchased their umpteenth home in Hawaii, Borneo, New York City or Aspen.

Bill Gates has been reinventing the idea with the recent purchase of a 404-room hotel in Houston and a 173-room hotel just north of Puerta Vallarta. I guess his 40,000 square foot home here in Seattle was starting to feel cramped.

True, I have often been without even a single domicile to my name, or as I would say to others, “I was in between homes at the time.” Eventually I would find another one, my days of homelessness relatively limited, unless you count the week I spent on the office floor in Port Orchard as being homeless.

Still, the idea fascinates me, not of being homeless but having more than one home. I mean, how cool would that be? You could flit and fly between them, always changing the scenery and living something of a gypsy existence, even your closest friends never knowing exactly where you are at any particular point in time.

Due to events that have transpired in recent months, I have had a taste of this lifestyle. My girlfriend and I live in different cities, really just a stone’s throw from one another – 16 miles or so – my having lived in Florida making a half hour jaunt from Point A to Point B seem like a run to Wal-Mart.

I have begun to refer to these two domiciles as the Town Home and the Country home, the former being mine, the latter hers. It’s not that Redmond is exactly the country any more, but it was when I was younger and I simply can’t shake the image of Redmond back when it was nothing but horse pastures.

One of us always seems to be at the other home. Thankfully, a lot of the time we end up being at the same home at the same time, as getting our signals crossed could be a bit awkward, one or both of us standing in front of a locked door, wondering where the other person was.

I can thank clear channels of communication, texting and Skype for reducing our crossing of signals in this regard. So far we have ended up at the right place at the right time, even though we’re not always sure where we will be until the very last moment.

We can’t say the same about our stuff. I really don’t know how the rich and famous do it – making sure all their stuff ends up at the right place at the right time. Sure, I know you can buy duplicates of things such as toiletries, kitchen utensils and cookware, even clothes. But there’s always something that is precious to you, something that you like more than another thing, even if they seem to be the same to an outsider.

There have been times when I would think about something I wanted to show Kat and lo and behold, it’s at my place not hers. The lines about what is where have gotten pretty blurrier as the days pass, as both places seem like home, largely because we’re together.

Still, I have to remember to keep a bag packed and in the car – fresh undies, a shirt and of course, toiletries.

I’m not sure this gypsy lifestyle is as easy for women. To be fair, the fairest of the sexes has much more gear to haul around, from contact lenses and glasses to different bras and panties for different outfits. Where I can get away with wearing the same thing to two different places over the course of two days, I don’t think that’s really a desirable option for most women.

As such, something always seems to be someplace else in our world. We haven’t gotten very good at the duplicate thing yet as it’s nearly impossible to anticipate nearly every thing that could be needed on an extended visit, so we just make do with what we have and call it good.

Thank God one of our homes isn’t in Aspen and the other in Miami. “Honey, I forgot my favorite shampoo at the other house” would become a major point of contention, as even hopping our own private jet to fetch it would become burdensome over the long run.

It’s equally good that Kat and I don’t really have any hang-ups about having such and such brand. We’re both terribly laid back, so it’s fine if I use her shampoo if I need to freshen up. I suppose the only lines in the sand would be toothpaste and razors. For some reason that just seems a bit strange to share. I know, some people cross-paste with reckless abandon and I suppose in an absolute emergency I could be persuaded. But I’d much rather over prepare and over stock to make sure we don’t have to resort to this extreme measure.

Time will only tell what ends up where. There cross-pollination of property and possessions has already begun. Innocently at the start – a movie left at one place or another – but soon other stuff will end up at the other place, including Christmas ornamentation, until we’re no longer sure what is where and whose. At that point I suppose we should just end all this madness and settle in one locale, our respective stuff in one place, closing our gypsy years.

I personally look forward to that day, a time when I don’t have to wonder if my favorite shirt is in the city or the country. Quite frankly, I don’t know how Bill Gates does it. Maybe he has an app for that.

In the Emerald City, wondering if I lost my mind in the city or the country,

– Robb