After some 30 years, I still remember the day I got a big box in the mail from my mother, and inside was the note “this is the last of your things” — the last few years at Christmas I have dragged out the keepsake boxes and made the kids pick what they wanted to keep, so I could get rid of the rest. Still working on the books, movies, and CDs though.

(PS “Until that moment, I didn’t realize that below the surface, I was harboring a reality of separation that was different than anything else in my life.” — so glad your son came home safe.)

That’s the life for me!

I really like that technology has caught up with me so I can store my memories in the cloud and access them from anywhere. I don’t even need to keep photos or home movies in boxes. They’re in the cloud. I don’t even need to own a computer, tablet or laptop. Sit down in an internet cafe in Grand Cayman and there are my photos!

We still have one Little Firefly at home, but I’m already pushing Mrs. Firefly to downsize from our 5 bedroom suburban home on an acre of land to a 2 bedroom condominium in the city. We could get rid of rooms full of stuff. Even go down to 1 car, like when we were first married. I’m losing this battle, but I dream of the day when we do it and I can pare down even more.

A saying atributed to Consuscius: “He who owns little is little owned.” Each thing feels like a burden to me. When I open a Christmas or Birthday gift a little voice deep in my mind says, “Where will I store this? What can I get rid of to make room for it?”

Not only do I not get sad when I know I’m buying the last of something, I am happy. When I figure out a way to eliminate or consolidate anything I feel relief. It’s like a physical weight is lifted from my shoulders.

The Mrs. has a hard time saying goodbye at College, but I find it exciting. Exhilirating. I know what a huge impact the experience had on my life and it bring me joy to know they are embarking on that journey, even though it holds grief and sorrow.

Andrew Kalavan recently said, “The source of all joy is love, and the price of love is grief.” That sums it up pretty love. Or, as Louis Prima sang, “If you want the things you love, you’ve got to have showers.”

Oh yes, the puffiness, the puffiness!

I think my downfall in the makeup-buying arena is the proliferation of makeup department stores like Ulta. I am amazed, simply amazed, at the variety. When I’m in there, I’ve noticed that I’m about 30-40 years older than everyone else in the store.

Thanks for that quote.

I also submit from Robert Frost this.

There are few things not purely evil of which we can say, without some emotion of uneasiness, “this is the last.” Those who never could agree together shed tears when mutual discontent has determined them to a final separation; of a place which has been frequently visited, though without pleasure, the last look is taken with heaviness of heart… This secret horror of the last is inseparable from a thinking being whose life is limited, and to whom death is dreadful. We always make a secret comparison between a part and the whole; the termination of any period of life reminds us that life itself has likewise its termination; when we have done anything for the last time, we involuntarily reflect that a part of the days allotted to us is past, and that as more is past there is less remaining.