Getting rid of crap.



By: H. Michael

When I first met Janet Lee 5 7 years ago she had a lot of baggage.  A gym bag, a laundry bag, make up bag, hand bag, shoulder bag, carry on bag, and my personal favorite, an overnight bag.  Amazingly all of her bags were neatly packed and fit into the closets, and attic, of her patio home.  Somehow ( I bet it was my huge... um... personality) I convinced her to give up her reasonably peaceful life and run away move in sail away with me. All of her bags have been packed stuffed into, and co-mingled, with mine for the last four years.  We have reached the point in our 5 year plan, where it's time to dump our stuff.

Elimination of stuff after sixty years of buildup (Janet Lee insists she is 28) is not expected to be easy.  It is after all our stuff, and the accrual of our stuff, that has helped define our personalities and help make us who we have become. Just take a look at Janet Lee's cowboy boots for example:

 

Each pair is full of history, and memories spent busting broncos, mucking stalls, stomping on broken hearts, and twirling around hardwood floors.   Downsizing and simplifying our lives to the degree required to live aboard a 500 square foot boat will not allow us to carry around boot bags.

Personally,  when I think of crap, I conjure up images of useless waste and worthless matter lacking any kind of valuable function.  Maybe that's the whole point.  What positive, effective value is created by the stuff we bring into our lives, or more importantly; what value is created by the stuff we bring to Adventure Us 2?  Shouldn't we concern ourselves with the process of elimination and not what is eliminated?

Someone please pass me a laxative.  Things are about to get hard aching painful stressful simple easy interesting.