Allocated Space

It seems what you need takes room. Space.

What if a Tsunami warning was struck? What would you leave your home with?
Certainly not the chandelier.

What you can carry. Maybe in a bag. Water. Maybe food?
Pictures perhaps.

Years ago I heard a funny statement. I’d not been long aboard my ketch. At the time I was helping out in a marine supply store. A fellow got on the conversation of holidays.

At that time I confessed it was sailing.

The chat ended with a laugh.

“You know what they say,” he said. “Sailboat, powerboat, RV, than rest home.”

Thought about that today when helping out dear Uncle Len. The fact that he is moving. To share space with his daughter, for the much needed assistance with the daily duties. 

He's having to leave his home.

To downsize.

In his case, from his RV to my cousin's fifth wheel. Previous to that though, he was on a power boat. He might a skipped the sailboat part.

Today, parting with some things was easy. Others, not so much. To be savoured at some other time. So into a box to storage.

We managed a pick-up truck load to the Thrift store.

More boxes to the fifth wheel.

All the while I mulled. The importance of allocated space.

Do we really need everything that we have?

Conditioned Surroundings

“A place for everything and everything in its place!” he used to screech raising his walking stick in the air.

My father was a stickler for organization. If you were to draw a line around the placement of his radio, his back scratcher and his tea cup beside his bed, they were placed precisely in the same spot – day in and day out.

It’s been a while since I’ve lived in a house. A small space is home. Yet conventional tidying up need not apply. If one thing is out of place, the whole space looks a mess.

So when I cram long hours into a project on said computer – the shipshape is literally turned upside down. Dishes stay sticky. Coffee grinds sit splattered. Papers scatter. Yet, does it matter?

Clean space equals clear mind. Cluttered environment displays scattered thoughts.

Dad definitely had one up on me.