I got started at making my way in the world at the tender age of 18. I moved to Europe to attend school and ended up working at a ski-camp for a semester. Then joined by my new friends I backpacked through the Middle East and Europe. I came home, moved into an apartment and worked as a waitress. My goal? To save enough cash to support myself as a volunteer in overseas missions.
Long story short, I met my man and everything changed.
Within a short time we were considering what “…as long as we both shall live” could mean and the conclusions we drew lead to decades of building, collecting, committing, investing, reproducing, parenting, educating, home owning, loan-paying, and so on. For the next 25+ years our focus on growing and gaining positioned us as keepers of a large home, the possessors of interesting and lovely things, the happy recipients of years of memories and echoey hallways and empty bedrooms.
Through a series of circumstances beyond our control, re-evaluation pressed upon us and consideration “…for richer, for poorer” needed re-addressing.
Three years passed and here we are, down-sized, de-cluttered, living light and loving it! We went from this
to this
and haven’t looked back. Well not much, anyway. Do we miss our old lives? Yes, sometimes. Do we have regrets? Nope. In the current economy when investment losses mount and people who haven’t been forced to, don’t know how to live more simply, the prospect for these, our dear friends, is scary. I understand. We would be there too if we hadn’t been forced here.
Be brave, friends. We have found God faithful in provisioning our needs. Letting go is a process. The best part is that living true to our values creates a freedom and sense of peace that is worth far and above the heap of trinkets we took to recycling.
