Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Purging

Purging can be freeing and wildly difficult. 

I'm getting rid of stuff that's become clutter but it's hard.  With many items I have to break the emotional bond I've created with the piece in order to sell it, give it away or simply toss it.  If you're like me, you understand, you have a connection with a coffee cup or a desk or a figurine, and it's real and tangible like a relationship.

With some things they're easy to keep, the desk my grandpa made in the 1920's, or my grandma's chocolate set.  Things I really can't find a place for in my home, but, man, to get rid of them would be pure sacrilege.

Other stuff I just like.  The great lines on a piece of furniture that takes up valuable square footage in my smallish house.  And, some things to which I've just grown accustomed.  They've always been around, and so they will continue to be around.

But, I need to make some major changes.  The liklihood of us moving are dimmer and dimmer.  So, I need to really make this place my home, not just my 5 year house where I store my stuff until we move.  (Which is how I've been living for 8 years now.)

I'm purging.  And, fretting about purging.  And, trying to figure out how to get rid of this stuff that I've accumulated and no longer need or use.  It starts with cutting the emotional bonds I've made with the things.  I need to set them free so I can be free.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Beach House 2006-2011


They grew up here...

 
The kids at my parent's Beach House, April 2007.


Our last trip to my parent's Beach House, April 2011.

A lifetime of memories.

I think it's interesting that the first pic was taken in the early morning, and the last pic was taken in the evening, just before dinner.  In one, the Beach House was new to us, full of hope for many fun vacations and special times there visiting Grampa and Gramma in the upcoming the years.  You can see the early pink sky and pale light cast on the pond while the kids, wearing their pj's, watch the sea birds come to eat their breakfast fish.  In the other, you can sense the day ending.  See how the kids are drawn together, touching at the shoulders, leaning into one another, expressing a closeness to each other and their surroundings.  Long shadows dominate the scene as the sun makes it's way westward mimicking our goodbye. 


And, the bright sunny days on the beach fade off into the sunset.


Thank you, Grampa and Gramma for many wonderful years and a lifetime of memories!



Monday, April 4, 2011

Biker Dudes and Rich Old Broads

I've always had the ability to befriend just about anyone.  I don't mean that in an egotistical way, I mean I just don't "have a problem" with too many people.  I could be friends with nearly everyone. 

Of course, "nearly everyone" doesn't necessarily want to be friends with me. 

I used to be offended by that, but then I realized that most people have standards.  I don't have many standards when it comes to other people.  I'm fascinated by the differences in all of us.  However, mostly people want to hang out with those who are like them.  They like similarities not differences.

To each his own.  But, I also feel sorry for those people.  I mean, what fun is it to hang out with carbon copies of themselves?  I wouldn't want to spend time with a clone of me.  I'm not that interesting.  Maybe that's why "nearly everyone" doesn't want to be my friend--ha!  And, I'm okay with that, but give me a rich old broad, a biker dude, an uptight accountant and a pitcher of Margs and I'll show you the best night of your life.  

Maybe I--and others like me--are not the abnormal ones.  Maybe if more "nearly everyones" just eased out of their comfort zones and befriended someone totally different than themselves, they'd discover that we're really not so different.

My husband quoted Shakespeare last night (yes, gasp! in and of itself), but I noted that the line he spoke was written over 400 years ago, in English, and it's still true today.  Human experience is universal.  Sure, our packages, our expressions, and our demeanors are different, but we still love, laugh, grieve and seethe.  

Humans are the same wherever they may be, and no one is better than another.  We are on an equal playing field, and if some of our species wants to pretend that they have something that lifts them above others, whether it be race, religion, talents, money, position, power, or whatnot, then they are just lying to themselves. 

We are more alike than we are different.  Go ahead, I'd say to those people, stretch yourself, reach out to others, not to serve them (as in I'm serving the poor), not to experiement with them (as in I'll regard them but not interact with them), but to really see them.

  

Friday, April 1, 2011

Dysfunctional Friendship

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