‘TIS THE GIFT TO BE SIMPLE

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free/’Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be/and when we find ourselves in the place just right/’Twill be in the valley of love and delight. (Elder Joseph)

Tears roll down my face and my heart races as my material world comes apart all around me.  This has been a week of many shifts – the moving surveyor came to estimate our moving cost, the small roof and bathroom repairs turned into major changes, the estate salesman posted the first announcement of our sale on line, we had our final gathering of friends in this house…..Once or twice a week my “fight or flight” system kicks in, and I have a meltdown.  (Thanks to my dear friend and acupuncturist Robin for helping me navigate.).  It’s all about wading through the “muck.”  Some days, I’m better at it than others.

I feel like a racehorse some days, with short, straight pathways leading to periodic hurdles, some pleasurable, some painful.  There are days of mindless tasks listed on my day planner followed by events, hurdles, if you will – the moving survey, the adios party, the estate sale, the trip to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport for Global Entry interviews with a chance to see my son and daughter in law, the visit to the Mexican consulate for visas, a long-delayed trip to see friends in Boone combined with a family baby shower for my granddaughter to be, movers coming to pack up our things and hit the road to Laredo, an unexpected reunion with high school friends…and eventually flying off to Guadalajara at the end of November.

Some of our friends are amazed, shocked, intrigued, excited, even jealous.  This is the biggest thing I’ve ever done in my adult life, and my eye is on the prize.  A remake of my current self?  A simple life in Mexico.  ‘Tis a gift to be simple…

Will there come a time when I can SIMPLY run 1 errand and not feel like I have to pack 4 others in as well since they’re right on my way?  Or simply sit reading for hours?  Have 1 or 2 books on my nightstand waiting to be read instead of 10 pushing me to “get on with it”?  (Surely you can tell by now that I am, I admit it, a bit OCD.  Coming from a preacher’s family where your home is constantly on display.  And being a good person meant being CONSTANTLY productive.)

We’ve complicated our lives so much in this country.  Years ago when I went to pick out a mattress there was one store to go to (in Boone) and maybe 10-12 mattresses to choose from.  The last time we shopped for a mattress 2 or 3 years ago in the Triangle there were probably 10 stores with 12 or more mattresses each to choose from in each.  We finally ordered online and we won’t even discuss the choices there.  Close your eyes and point.  It is out of hand.  We can get anything and everything in America.  Amazon will have it to you in a heartbeat.  We don’t have to wait.  We don’t have to be uncomfortable or inconvenienced.  And I am overwhelmed and exhausted by it.

This move is the chance to clean house, to clear out, to SIMPLIFY.  Of our 5 clothes closets that were once full only 2 still have clothes in them.  I have hauled load after load to thrift and consignment stores.  Our numerous bookshelves have large empty spaces now.  The sunroom and garage are full of estate sale items.  Photo albums and a few special objects are stored away.  The party is over and the next big hurdle – the estate sale – will leave us with a mattress, a table and 2 chairs, and our kitchen wares (until the movers take those away November 5th).  We are peeling away layer by layer toward SIMPLICITY.  To the opportunity to have less, do less; making more careful, sustainable choices.  We have friends in Ajijic who have walked away from ALL their “stuff” and say now they could easily do it again.  I want to leave a smaller footprint on this earth, have only what I need or treasure, buy my food and wares at small family businesses.  Know that I’ve helped sustain and improve their simple lives.  I want to make a difference in this world.

‘When true simplicity is gained…to turn, turn will be our delight.”