I hear echoes of Bocelli and Brightman singing “It’s Time to Say Goodbye”.* That music resounds (as in RE SOUNDS) in my ears as it did some nine years ago when I left my last domicile on my way to this current goodbye-place.
Leaving is such a big bundle of conflicting feelings–feelings that attach to objects as one handles them in packing. There’s a song to go with each of these feelings that automatically streams in my head as I live this epoch.
I am about a month and a half into the three months I allowed to do the sorting out, throwing out, and shaking out of feelings buried with these objects.
Old photos: more precious than money. Take.
Old paid bills: personal? toss ’em. business? save ’em if they are younger than ten years.
Things I gave him: wrap and tuck in unless they are hokie. (“Give Me My Hat and My Gloves…”)* The hokie things go into a big black bag that says “DONATE”. Things I gave him that he has not brought out: leave it. (“Vaya con Dios…”)*
I’m seventy one, pushing seventy two. The years and several moves have taught me that stuff is not an asset. Even very valuable objects can be liabilities. I love to part with things that are so valuable as to be a source of worry. Long ago I gave the family silver to my children. Good riddance to it. Things like that tempt thieves, off-put visitors of humble means, and need polishing. Unless you hock it, it is not valuable. And if you hock it, you only get money, not rememberances of your childhood table set for dinner.
The photos will give the rememberances of the silver and the furniture and not only that but the people who used it. (” Memories are Made of This.”)*
Do I need the cast iron oversized Creuset Dutch Oven I felt so lucky to find on sale? Probably. It is one heck of a nice cooker, plus it’s lobster red and great for serving bean salad to a crowd. I can pack it with socks and tuck it in. Do I need the first ever stainless steel trash can I ever had after longing for it for so many years? Nope. Nor do I get to take my five burner gas stove with duel fuel. Wow…that is a painful loss. (“Breaking Up is Hard To Do.”)*
Traveling light is really an asset. The bliss of traveling light can live with a person for a lifetime! I remember a trip to New York City from boarding school wherein I forgot my suitcase! Nothing to wear but the traveling clothes I chose– and it was a long weekend with a lot of neat things to do! Did I suffer? NO, resoundingly! Once I got over the shock, I entered the new adventure with a camper’s spirit. Can you visualize how simple life gets when the choices are narrowed to one in the department of “what shall I wear.” It is really wonderful to know this and try to implement this simplicity into trips through one’s life. Truly. (“‘Tis a Gift to be Simple”)*
This is a permanent move I am working on now, so it’s not as if I can change my mind after the truck leaves. I am ready to be simple. I have always wished, while vacationing in a cottage at Cape Cod for a week or two, that I could take that simplicity with me. Just a pot and a pan and a broom. Running water and some soap. A place to sleep and a place to be in out of the rain. And all the rest is unencumbered with “have to’s”. What freedom. (“Don’t Fence Me In.”)*
I am planning my next life to be like that. It will naturally get cluttered with the cullings of my activities there, as surely as the Cape Cod cottage got cluttered with crayons and shells and weeds that the children put into a scrapbook during a rainy day. I still have that scrapbook and I’m taking it with me.
I think the dogs and the cat will be quite enough to hand-deliver to my new space. Oh, and my guitar. Yes, that goes everywhere with me. The music? That’s inside me, and rides free. (“I Got the Sun in the Morning…”)*
*Time To Say Goodbye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbN0g8-zbdY
*Give Me My Hat and My Gloves http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/oklahoma/peoplewillsaywereinlove.htm
*Vaya con Dios http://www.imeem.com/meldaqueen/music/MfKkOarl/patti-page-vaya-con-dios-my-darling/
*Memories are Made of This http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MWN_duZfIs
*Breaking Up is Hard To Do http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbad22CKlB4
*Tis a Gift to be Simple http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL5o0b13vMY
*Don’t Fence Me In http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fksNfKeJOww
*I Got the Sun in the Morning http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4FcrHHyRKI
old swimmer ( Same Ol'Swimmer) 