I am always intrigued, even after reading that book so very many times to children over the years, that a family of 5 could pack everything they own into the bed of a wooden wagon and move on. Their clothing, personal possessions, cooking utensils, security devices (AKA Pa's rifle and pistol), entertainment (Pa's fiddle), and a few other miscellaneous items all were strategically placed inside and still there was enough room for everyone to sit down.
How did they do it?
I'm not sure of the answer to that one but whatever it was that they did, one thing is for sure.
I admire them.
The Ingalls family and many other pioneers and settlers of the old times of long ago were of necessity minimalists. There was no way around it if you wanted to venture out to new places, ones that couldn't be found by riding on the smooth interstate highways of today. The road to somewhere new was a bumpy one in those days of yore. It was a dusty road and the load had to be lightened many times along the way. Museums all across the country are filled with the antique discards and other personal belongings of early day travelers that had to be pitched along the prairie because they added too much weight for the horses and oxen to pull. Many a tear must have been shed by those who owned beautiful pieces of furniture that foolishly were packed for the journey but it was what it was. A heavy load slowed you down and a load that was too heavy stopped you altogether.
I've been moving towards becoming a minimalist for the last couple of years although you might not recognize that fact at first if you came into our house but mentally I am beginning the process. I have asked myself the question many times over and over.
"For crying out loud. How much do I need to have to survive in this life? When is enough truly enough?"
I made the first step towards giving up a few things back in the fall when I decided to purge my cupboards of the many cups and mugs that I had collected over the years. The children in my class earned the privilege of having a "hot cocoa and marshmallow" party and they drank their chocolate from one of those mugs. Then they took them home to keep forever. It was a fun time and even though I thought that I could never give up those very special treasures of mine, it was much easier than I once believed. Before the kids put them in their backpacks, I told each of them the story behind how I got it and as each story was told I found myself being more and more "ok" with their departure from my life's possessions. 20 more mugs are going to be packed into a box this weekend and they too will make their way into the hands of a child later on this spring as we try for yet one more hot cocoa party. When that happens I will be down to a grand total of 11 mugs and although that sounds like several still at least it's not near as many as the 62 of them I had before. The trick has been to not buy any more of them and so far, so good. The way I figure it is this.
"You gotta start somewhere!"
Both Mike and I have noticed lately that when we go into stores to look around that less and less finds its way into our shopping carts and bags. Both of us love to browse through the things on the shelves but many times we just don't find anything that we need to have. Those things that we do end up purchasing as of late have been for reasons of practicality not because of this spur of the moment burning desire to have it. Actually it is kind of a nice feeling, a freeing one.
Each day as I move closer and closer to the winter time of my own life, there are things that I yet want to do. My hope is to teach another 3 years or so and then to travel a bit and see the parts of this great country that I have never seen before. I want to do it before I cannot and it will be much easier accomplished if I don't have so many things to take care of.
I must have been thinking along these lines when I came up with my list of "60 things to do before turning 60 this year". Several of those things reflect my feelings about the best way to live my life. I want to downsize, to enjoy life more and worry less. Although I am sure that I won't have all of my possessions pared down by the time I turn 60 come late October, my intention is to at least make a reasonably good start.
What do we all have that is weighing us down? What is it that we could do without in order that our lives would be so much simpler?
Probably more than any of us would imagine.
Not in the least.
The 9-square quilt that "the 21" made after we finished reading Laura's book this week. Although it was made from colorful scraps of construction paper it still kind of looks "real". It turned out to be a great way to recycle and use up all of the scrap pieces of paper that I'd been saving throughout the year. We had a lot of fun in its making.
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