More thoughts

I just returned from a two day stay with my daughter in Bracebridge. Mandy is my youngest and lives approx 40 minutes away from me in the part of the world that I love the best. Bracebridge was my home for over 20 years, until I moved to Beaverton to be closer to my father who is elderly. Going to Bracebridge is truly, a trip "home."

Mandy and her fiance have just bought a house.... a nice place that is perfect for the two of them. It needs a little work but neither she nor her fiance are afraid of hard work. It is cute to see how they get a charge out of domestic chores... dish washing, cooking, baking, laundry...and...recycling!! Yes!! They are serious about recycling! Halleluia! (And I thought that they were not listening!!)

Mandy recycles. She reuses. She regifts. That is one thing I have not been able to bring myself to do. When I receive a gift, I cannot part with it, because it reminds me of the person who has given. That in itself is why I live with so much clutter. I can not bear to part with things that evoke memories. To solve that problem, I am going to ask for giftless occasions from here on. My walls, closets and cupboards are full. I would rather spend an hour in the company of someone I love than spend a lifetime with a token of their affection.

There is another bright light at the end of the clutter tunnel. My daughter's closets are bare and...(I sure hope that she doesn't read this!)...I think I may have found a home for all of her grandmother's and great grandmother's cups and saucers, china and glassware!

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Regift.

Thanks Mandy. You don't know it yet, but you are instrumental in helping my to further simplify my life. Oh how I love my children and their empty houses!