Belongings: prompt
Material Girl
All. The. Things.
When I was younger, I thought the path to happiness was The American Dream — two cars in the garage and a chicken in every pot. We all assumed we would ‘do better’ than our parents had and our children would ‘do better’ than we had — and so on for time immortal.
Sometime after the collapse of my marriage — I discovered All. The. Things. I had painstakingly collected throughout fifty years of living no longer served me.
I downsized. And then downsized again. Each time ridding myself of debris. Physical, emotional, and spiritual debris. Because the very difficult lesson I learned at that time was clinging to anything is a waste of energy.
I had received the first message about possessions when I was six-years-old when a house fire destroyed everything my family owned save the clothes on our backs. I learned it was all Just Stuff — and we would eventually get More Stuff. I believe that experience in my formative years made me into an OCD minimalist as an adult.
The only thing which really mattered was that The Humans in my world survived the disaster.
Later in My Life, I would be taught — over and over again — about letting go of relationships as well. The Humans in my world were not Mine to keep either. My mother died…
