» Thursday, 26 January A.D. 2012
on minimalism
Every so often, I mention to my wife that we have too much stuff and we need to get rid of it. Every time, she agrees and suggests that we start getting rid of stuff. And every time she says we should start with my books.
NOOOOO NOT MY BOOKS
We usually don't talk about it any more after that.
Actually, we do. She then points out that we don't have a lot of stuff, which I think is debatable. We talk about that for a little while and then drop the matter.
At least I have been learning to live with something more than minimalism in other parts of my life. Packing for trips, for instance. I like to pack compactly: not insanely compactly, but I will take a rolling suitcase that fits in the overhead bin for trips of a week or more.
Packing this way does not work when you have multiple children and go to anyplace more involved than Chick-fil-A.
I used to get really annoyed when we'd pack the car for trips to see our parents. “What? Another bag? What's that for?” “Why do you have to take three dolls and a box of blocks? You have toys at [destination] to play with” Now I just breathe, make little yoga motions with my hands, and carry the bag out to the car. I am at peace.
But I'm still really happy when we can get rid of stuff.
posted by Nate @ 11:46PM