The Collection

Who believes I have a Hello Kitty collection? Good.It's Thanksgiving time in the USA. People eat, travel, visit, eat again, make bizarre purchases because things are on sale, vacation, dip into last minute projects to complete at work before year end - it is a pulsing atmosphere. I have chosen to move at this busy time, not all my doing, you tend to move when your "House for Sale" becomes sold. I'm going through things for an impending move next week and finding out just how much stuff a person can gather as you travel through a life. Something has to be done about this!

I have things in an attic, these are easily sorted and either kept or disposed of. I have things in closets. There are old Christmas cards from 15 years ago that will meet the recycle bin. I see stacks of VHS tapes and Iomega ZIP disks, remember those? I have race bibs and awards from events I don't remember entering. Clothes that since I haven't changed sizes, still fit. Fortunately styles have changed and that makes for a wonderful pile of Goodwill boxes and bags. Old board games, money in the form of rolled coins, tools, cleaning and home maintenance supplies, sporting goods, volumes of paperwork from old receipts to warranties for things I don't own anymore. Have you any idea how this happened? I am not a habitual pack rat, but I do have too many things. Moving clears the slate and allows for a new beginning.

Maybe it's age, maturity, exposure to yoga principles that seem to "simplify" how I think, but I have changed with regards to possessions. I have so many things, but what do I want and what do I need? I am believing now that my collection should consist of experiences more than things I can hold, plug in, move, dust or bring to a consignment shop. That's what the move is about. I no longer want a plot of Florida land that would label me as a farmer in some countries. I don't need a big home with all the trimmings. I need a comfortable and safe place to sleep and eat, a place to do family things but not too many, most of what we do is outdoors anyway! So I'll use this next few days off to adjust my collection. Some of it is coming to a new home with me. Some of it will find a new home with someone else. I'll have more time to chase experiences and travel and become closer to friends and family. That's the collection I'm concentrating on heading forward with.