The Weight of Things

Donation of odds and ends.

My sister and I have been doing a major Spring clean in her tiny house. She's been here 2 years, and has accumulates the odds and ends from many well-meaning friends and family, off-loading their extra junk onto her. I am a perpetrator of this generous dumping, passing her bags and bags of clothes through the years that she could never said no to.

Room by room, we sort, we bag, we chuck. Only loved or useful items are allowed to stay. Everything else is going on to another life. We find forgotten floral dresses and sparkly leotards from time long gone. Clutter slowly starts to disappear, making room for this things she loves and treasures.

Objects have weight to them. They can bring us daily joy or they can sink us little by little. Incrementally, they hang off us, one by one, making our steps heavier and heavier. They are the should-haves and would-haves. My friend, Persephone is doing a year buying nothing new. She's interested in the environmental impact on consumerism.  I think it's also important to contemplate your relationship with the things you live with... what do they say to you when you wake up in the morning, and do you love what they are saying?