It has to go, well most of it.

For the first time in my adult life I don’t want anything for Christmas and more seriously I don’t want to buy anything for my children. Anything big that is. John and I have decided we are moving to Costa Rica and all but our absolute cherished possessions are going. We walked around the house and though we have collected some awesome things. We have resigned ourselves to the face that they are that; just things. We had an awful lot of conversations that started with, “well what if the house was on fire” or “what if the house burned to the ground”. After so many of those conversations your really become attuned to what your partner and what your older child really values. The list would surprise you I think. We challenged each other to pick only three items. Of course we will take more than that but thinking always of a top three really helped us focus our attentions. Most men might be surprised that on my husband’s top three is a pair of non-valuable flower patterned transferware dinner plates. They have cracks and water stains and have for years rested over our stove but move importantly belonged to a set owned by his grandmother. He remembers eating food from them in her house. You might see plates like these at Goodwill but to him they are priceless. We have in fact, a very substantial amount of Noritake China in the cabinet as well as Mikasa crystal but neither of these made anyone’s list. On John’s list were a pair of Herand figurines no larger than a half dollar each. They are very valuable, but this was not why they were chosen. He said he picked these because he bought them from the factory in Europe and wrapped them very carefully and brought them on the submarine back to me. They were on my list too but not top three. Also on John’s list an embroidery his other grandmother did with pictures of all animals you can eat cow chicken lamb etc and then around it all the herbs with a little color code for what herb goes with which animal. It was a gift to his parents on their anniversary. Finley’s list her fire proof box, contents secret. The first thing on my list is wooden mechanic’s toolbox that is a zillion years old. It is painted green and beaten and if you saw it in a store you would think it had been distressed but the distress is authentic. It was used for an entire career from floor sweeping to white collar by John’s Grandfather and for the last seventeen years it has been in my house as a piece of high art, a stoop, and for the last ten years perched atop my bedside table. Crooked there with pictures the box has been looking down on us while we slept or shinning light on us. The green box filled with as much as I could stuff it. We haven’t asked Riley because we know she only ever wants one thing and that is the foot square remnant she calls her blankie. It is so important actually that it was on Finley’s list. We are going to do away with the rest of the stuff. Use the money to get us to where we want to go. When we get where we are going we are going light and staying light. I haven’t felt this excited or this calm in a very long time. The future seems pregnant with possibilities. Kim