Too much stuff

My life has been overtaken by THINGS and it is time to let some of it go. I have sentimental attachments to objects that are weighing me down instead of uplifting my life. I guess I could have been a hoarder, and I have fought those tendencies all my life. Now I just want to downsize, minimize ad streamline. I don't want to continue to maintan all this stuff. My intentions are always good. I always believe that I will have a use for this stuff. Yet all it does is clutter up my house. I have a grandfather clock that belonged to my mother. Two of my brothers and I chipped in and bought it for her about 15 years ago, so it is not an antique or a family heirloom. I have no childhood attachments to this clock. I has been sitting in my sunroom for six years, collecting dust, because I did not want to give it away when my mother died. I have no room for this piece, and now I need to find another home for it. My house is filled with things like that. Things that are too good to throw away, but that noone else wants. I guess it is time for me to open up and ebay account and make a little money. I have gotten beyond the emotional need to keep these things. It is time for them to find a home.

Today I am having lunch with a long time girlfriend. She has recently retired again and we have made a pact to get together once a month for lunch. Ar and I have gone thru an awful lot together. In the pre-on line dating era, we scoured the personal ads in search of the perfect mate. We laughed and danced, donned our widest brimmed hats and went shopping at Saks...it makes me smile to recount some of our adventures. As old(er)married women, we have been relegated to the monthly lunch. When I see her today, I think I will have a conversation with her about what we can do to have more fun. Hmmm...let me put on my thinking cap.

Laughter

Last night was the monthly book club and the selection for discussion was Fifty Shades of Grey. Regardless of how you feel about the book, it made for a lively discussion and lots of laughs. Patrice, our hostess for the evening, themed the get together by featuring Grey frosted cupcakes, Earl Grey tea, and grey neckties as decorations. The evening highlighted the importance of girlfriends, laughter, sharing and fun. It is so good for the soul to develop those connections, even if they are only for a few hours a month. Wouldn't it be great to have more fun and laughter in our lives? I make it a goal to laugh every day. And I mean really laugh out loud. Think about ways that you can incorporate more fun into your life. Let me know what you discover.

Congrats to my brother and his wife on their 25th wedding anniversary. It really is an accomplishment in a world where only 50% of marriages succeed. My brother called me yesterday to ask for a favor. His mother in law called him and invited him for a sit down to discuss the 25 years of animosity and disdain which permeates their relationship. He wanted me to write down everything that I could remember about the feud that exists between them, because I have the better memory. I refused to indulge him in this quest to dredge up all the crap from the last 25 years. I explained that if HE can't remember it, then it doesn't matter. Why have someone else's memory drive your arguement? I took this as a perfect coaching opportunity. I asked him why he felt that he needed to sit down with his mother in law, since previous attempts at this had been unproductive. They rarely see eye to eye on anything. And when they walk away from the table, they each have a different spin on what the actual outcome was. It has never produced positive results, and has only dredged up the past in a negative way. I asked why he wanted to sit down with her, and he admitted that he didn't - that he was only doing it so that she couldn't tell people that he had refused her attempt at reconcilitation. I questioned if this was a good enough reason, based on the past results. He agreed that he did not want to sit down and talk to her, that he only wanted to go about the business of living his life. In the end, he concluded that his time would be better spent trying to effect postitive change in his life instead of getting mired down in the minutae of this stand off. Of course, that coud all change when his wife gets wind of it!

Back to Basics

Writing has always been a cathartic exercise for me, and tho I journal daily, I have been neglecting my blog. I guess the idea is to get back to basics, to start one blog post at a time and see where it leads. Last week I took a fiction writing class and it helped to rekindle my desire to reconnect with the world thru written word. This is my new beginning, my back to basics attempt to write about what I know, to question what I don't, and to maybe make a difference in someone's day, one day at a time.