Simple/Things

I love things. Big things, little things, novel things, obscure things, old things, new things, borrowed things, blue things...I loved them all. And somewhere in my muddled mind, "loving" equated with "having," until the day I was enlightened in a little backwater town in nowhere Texas.

We don't ordinarily stop when passing through these little towns unless we need gas, but whyever, this quaint little antique "General Store" caught our attention enough and we actually went in, only to be instantly overwhelmed with treasure upon treasure. This one and that one and the one over there~beautiful, perfectly splendid things.

Just look at this one here! If only I could have this thing, I could, I would... and here dawned the epiphany: I could and would have to pay for it, cram it into the overloaded car or arrange (and pay) to have it delivered, find a place to put it in the house, dust it, polish it, pay to insure it, move it to clean around/under, keep the kidlets away from it... Losing its luster by the minute...

Do I really want to have this thing? Do I really want this thing to have me? Nope. Not so much. We walked around the store a bit longer, greatly enjoying every little thing, and then we left. Unburdened. My life and my thinking changed in the moment when I realized that I can thoroughly enjoy a thing without having the responsibility of owning it.

Now, many years later, I still love things. Only now...I love them freely.