A Life Lesson From The Berenstain Bears

I often get the Gimmies. It seems the more I have the more I want.  Renovating an old home was an attempt to right size, live within our means, and set ourselves up for a financially comfortable future.  This is a wonderful ideal which is complicated by my desire for possessions. 

As the walls go up I am already consumed by what I will put within them.  When we moved across the country we only brought what we deemed our most important belongings and agreed to purchase new furnishings once our home was complete.  Almost daily I pour through online images and design magazines and find myself stressing over whether I will be able to get the high end leather couch I want and if the kitchen table will be big enough to hold our friends and family at our open house BBQ. 

Then I made a fiscally irresponsible decision this weekend that helped me get back on course;  I bought a kayak.  It is a simple, no frills water vessel that I got an incredible price on during the Memorial Day sales.  Last night as J and I kayaked together side by side I suddenly understood why he has owned one for the past 3 years.  It is therapeutic, physically demanding, and incredibly mind clearing.  With each stroke I paddled further away from my obsession and unrealistic expectation of renovating a home and having it completely finished and furnished before we could welcome guests.

It can be argued that the money I used to purchase my small water craft could have paid for a nice chair or nightstand, but those things suddenly seem so insignificant.  A home tells a story of the people who live there.  I realized that I don't want my story to be from a mail order catalogue or website where I one stop shopped for all the "things" in my house.  Our guests may find themselves sitting in a camp chair next to our fireplace or at a card table for our first shared meal, but that is far from tragic. Those Berenstain Bears where on to something!  Saving up and only making purposeful purchases will help us simplify our lives.  I want my life to be less about the give me and more about the grateful.

I would like to begin this new attitude of gratitude by remembering and thanking all who have served for my freedom and liberties.  May our country's gratitude extend beyond this Memorial Day and may we collectively seek a simplified lifestyle and eradicate the greed that has led to too many wars!