Acquiring Things, and Letting Things Go

Mum's windowsill in her care home room holds her most treasured possessions, not that she knows they are, but I can talk to her about the memories behind them over and over ... and then they make her smile. Her walls are full of family photos, and we regularly go over and over who the people are with her when she asks, but she sees no one except for me, Alan and my brother, so she really is losing track if we talk about anyone else.

It makes me realise that not acquiring things, as we have purposefully done for the last few years (apart from a few special things), has been a really good move.  We don't need any souvenirs from our holidays apart from a few photographs, there are no fridge magnets or little jars of sand to remind us where we have been.  Just the memories and some photos to jog those memories, in case they start to slip away in the future.

When we enter the world we come with nothing, and then immediately start acquiring things at first via our parents and relatives, and then with great gusto and lots of relish when we are independent adults striking out for the first time.

Of course while I have donated most of my randomly acquired things and ornaments in a bid to declutter my life over the years, there are some still things in the 'memory box' that I have. It being a memory in it's own right as it was made for me by a blogging buddy when we moved onto our very first farm.  I may even need to revisit that at some point and photograph the 'things' and just have them that way.  We'll see in the run up to our move what will happen.

Of course I have lots of books, but even my book buying has almost ground to a standstill.  I have paused my Amazon Prime membership. With no deliveries and little on Prime that I wanted to watch on television there didn't seem any point in supporting a huge company with a multi-multi billionaire at it's head.

Taking my life down to a simple level, and a much more satisfying stage seems to be such a good idea.  One day I too might only need a windowsill to display my possessions. 

Sue xx