Paring down, traveling light,.....whatever

I’m flew to Seattle today and my carefully packed carry-on went in the plane’s hold, checked at the gate.  I tried and could lift it over my head so I could have wrestled that thing into an overhead bin but why push the limits of my upper body strength.

Arrived!

And this week, going from Denver to  Seattle-
I took two umbrellas!

(Well, one was packed, one snuck in- that was the extra weight)

I had packed carefully- with three flights in a two-week trip I was determined not to pay an extra hundred dollars just to have more choices of clothes.  Of course, this trip includes cool, rainy Seattle and warm, practically-summer Waco, Texas.  So it took some creative clothing selection. Only two pairs of shoes, lots of layers and my sincere hope that my hosts will have down jackets or extra T-shirts if I’m desperate.

I was pretty content with my packing job until my sister opened her birthday package of raw coffee beans and insisted I add the cute burlap coffee bag from Panama to my stuffed carry-on.  A big burlap bag.  “Paul will love it. You need to take it to Seattle for him. Besides, I have enough stuff already.”

Don’t we all?  Have enough stuff...

When I moved West I shredded or tossed about a quarter of my possessions and gave away about another third.  It was hard but exhilarating, too.  I kept sorting and chucking, keeping only the essentials or things I really loved. I was going to travel light, live pared down, embrace simplicity in this new season of my life.

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” 
― Confucius

Well, it’s been two years and I still haven’t unpacked all the boxes.

Why is it so hard to keep life simple?  I made good choices, I was generous with others as I gave my stuff away, I was sure I needed all that I kept.  But the fact is, I also filled in the gaps once I moved. I have a borderline-obsession/love of thrift stores.  “How could someone get rid of that? I need it.”  Sure the ten-dollar down comforters were a great idea and an amazing deal. But the collection of globes I’m accumulating?  Those I just wanted.  And I obviously wanted them more than I want simplicity.

But my wandering off the path of simplicity isn’t so obvious to me when I do it.  I have room for guests so that means towels, bedding, children’s toys,  heavy jackets for cool summer nights, hiking shoes in various sizes – just in case.  I have a fully equipped kitchen- for guests and I do eat. But I also have art supplies because I really want to get back to my art one of these days, when I have more time.  I have more books than I’ll ever read but they are good books and maybe the children will want them some day.  I heard that you can learn a lot about a person from their library and that the digital age could end the idea of a personal library heritage.  I want to leave a heritage of books. And art. And the stuff that says, "This is me." Or someday, "This was my mother, this was your Bebe, or your Gran-Bebe."

Ready for fun....
and almost organized. 

Ready for art-
looks MUCH cooler now that those drawers are hung on the wall. 

This is BEFORE we added  several more bookshelves and many more books.....

But I also want to live simple.

Maybe simple is less about stuff and more about my attitude about the stuff.  I love having guests and I appreciate being able to anticipate their needs so my home can be their haven.  I want to know when I’m ready to create; I’ll have the supplies to use.  I just can't seem to get rid of books but I'll sort again for next Friends of the Library book sale. Meanwhile, my guests are quite entertained by the library. So it's not exactly simple living but it's working out. 

United Airlines was more than willing to gate check my carry-on freeing me to stroll unencumbered through the airport.  Grabbing a verse completely out of context, Jesus said "My burden is light, my yoke is easy."  I don’t have to carry around the burden of my stuff and I certainly don’t have to hold it over my own head. I can look around at what God is doing and join Him- like being hospitable and creative. I can choose carefully what I need for each leg of the journey. I can trust others will share when I have need.  I can soak in the comfort and memories of the pieces I keep. 

Turns out the road to simplicity is a bit more complicated than I thought.  Kinda like life. 

“A child of five could understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.” 
― Groucho Marx