What Would Francis Do?

As a part of my spiritual growth, some years ago I became a Third Order Franciscan. One of the tenets of the group is to espouse Simplicity of Living. For me this means no lusting over Coach handbags. However, one way to measure your success at keeping it simple is to move from a two bedroom-two bath condo to a single bedroom. A very large bedroom, and I do have space in other rooms, but not enough to transfer all my goods intact from one place to another.

I decided to be ruthless and get rid of everything that was of no use or value and would cost lots of money to store. So I parted with my sofa, discarded souvenirs, and emptied shelves of medieval history books (it was a phase I went through in the 90's). But then there were other objects that I found impossible to part with. A potholder my niece made me as a wedding gift. A mug my nephew assembled that said Aunts are Great. And how could I part with music from bands that no longer exist like Rusted Root? How could I throw away my Muddy Waters cassette tapes? I couldn't. So they came along with the important stuff like my Jane Austen action figure, my shrimp deveiner, and my Dead Sea Salt foot scrub.

If I didn't know before having cancer, I know for sure now what matters. My friends, my family, my eyebrows, and I can take those things with me wherever I go. I don't even have to pay for storage.