Stuff

In the very beginning of the movie "Fight Club" Edward Norton's character talks about how he has become obsessed with acquiring things--the best furniture from Ikea--to furnish his classy, upscale apartment. How having all of these possessions will somehow define who he is as a person. He then goes on to acknowledge that after awhile, the things that you own begin to own you.

We don't even see it coming. Of course you just have to have that coffee table because it matches the bookcase and china cabinet so perfectly. And your life just wouldn't be complete if you didn't buy the latest and greatest gas-guzzling vehicle to match your McMansion home. But wait...when was the last time you just took off work--you have the vacation time--for a month-long trip? Oh, you're worried about who will watch the house? Okay, so what about taking that job in Portugal that is obviously a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? Right...you'd have to figure out what to do with all your stuff first--store, sell, ship? And then, do you give the leftovers to friends or try to sell them on Craigs List? After all, you paid good money for that stuff and you don't want to just give it away.

Adam and I have a friend who once said that his apartment is furnished so that he could pack it up and be gone within 24 hours' notice. At the time, I thought he was a little crazy; now I think that's one of the smartest things I ever heard. Why do we allow ourselves to become beholden to our things, especially to the point where we allow their presence in our lives to dictate how it is we're going to live. As I have spent the last few days packing, I have been saddened to think that I am packing my life away, slowly and methodically. At some point, I stopped my train of thought and realized with a jolt that my life does not comprise these things--not books I read or the clothes I wear or even the photos I framed. My life is a complex and beautiful fabric woven from the wonderful people who have walked in and out of it, and of the adventures and experiences I have come across. That is the "stuff" that shapes who I am, and that stuff can't be packed up, shipped off, or left behind.

That is the stuff that stays with me.