Enough

       When I was a little girl I use to play for hours in the back yard in worlds that were only limited by the stretch of my imagination. I was a princess, a queen, a mommy, a teacher, a doctor, a dog, a horse, a chef, a flower shop owner. . . I made houses out of the sheets my grandmother hung on the clothes line and I baked my cakes and pies on the metal slide in the neighbor's back yard. I made "perfume" out of acorns and necklaces out of old buttons my grandmother kept in a beautiful tin. I cut paper dolls out of the Sears and Roebuck catalog and soared to the moon and back on the backyard swing. I made crowns out of flowers and my bed was a lush green patch of clover under the warm sun or starry skies. The toys I did have sometimes made an appearance as my students in my imaginary classroom or as my royal subjects in my imaginary kingdom. I played from sun-up until after sun-down all through the summer and after my homework was done until dinner time during the school year. Life was good, really good and it was more than enough. I don't remember ever longing for more or chasing after something else because what I had was abundance, not of things, but of pure imagination turned into endless hours of one fun moment after another.

        As an adult with children of my own I am often astounded at the number of toys and things my girls have. This stuff sometimes consumes my world as I go from room to room picking up toys, shoes, clothes, pencils, markers, hair bows, clothes, parts of games, etc. It can sometimes drive me to the brink of wild-eyed, teeth-gnashing craziness. It's not their fault that they have so much. It's mine. But why? Why as a person who as as child had just the right amount of things did I ever feel like I needed to give my girls so much? Only a few of the things that they have are actually truly special to them.I still have many of the toys that were my special playthings as a child. Howie does too. They are well-loved, but well cared for too. I have given away some of the girls' toys and clothes only to find that overnight they have reproduced and the closets and drawers and storage boxes are bursting at the seams. If my girls were to house all of the toys they now have in their adult homes, they would need four homes to fit it all in. In this New Year I have decided that enough is enough and I am going to wrangle in all of this excess not only of the girls stuff but of my own stuff too.

        One of the goals I have for our family is to create an environment of peace in which we feel we can move and breathe and stretch our wings and let our imaginations soar. In the blog world, I have seen others embracing a word to live by for the year. In pondering this idea of a word to live by, many amazing words came to mind such as home, peace, harmony, joy. The word that came to me, not of my on accord, but that I feel is truly Spirit given is the word "enough."  The word "enough" can take on a two-fold meaning including "just right" as well as "no more." In exploring the word "enough" and applying it to my goal of creating a peaceful environment in my home I hope to discover ways in which I can free not only my own thoughts but also the thoughts of my family from the chains of things that bind and hinder us from living the lives we were meant to lead. This is not to say that I am clearing my house of everything that we own. On the contrary, I feel that some things in a home can enrich a person's life through usefulness as well as meaning.  It is to say, however, that I will be doing some intentional thoughtful editing of the stuff that is in our home giving consideration to how it enhances and enriches our lives in a meaningful way.  As I go through this process of editing, I am also going to include the input of Howie and the girls. I know that at some point during the process I may hit a road block of one wanting to hold on to something while another wants to see it go. I hope these moments will be teaching moments for all of us.
       2013 has just begun. I look forward to seeing day-by-day how our lives will be reduced in the amount of stuff  we have while at the same time becoming filled with a feeling of peace and joy through finding what truly is "enough."

      *** I am linking up to The Lettered Cottage for a "Word of the Year" Linky Party. The Letterd Cottage is a wonderful blog with wonderful inspiration for the home and living life too. Click on the button below and check out all of the wonderful "words of the year."