I read today in NYT about "Books You Can Live Without". Its about getting rid of the clutter on your bookshelves.
I have, for a long time, subscribed to the "travel through this Earth lightly" approach to acquisition of physical things. When visiting places, I have always preferred not to buy any souvenirs as I preferred to treasure the memories of that place in my head rather than by some touristy key ring/tea towel that was probably made in China. I even abhor taking photographs. If not for my better half, who is a stickler for family-having-fun photos, we will not even have a photo album.
Talking about photos, one of my school mates had posted our 1980's pictures on his Facebook. This served as a big source of amusement for my wife who kept asking me about the things we did during the time we spent in that boarding school. I can only remember snippets but most of them were a blur.
The other day my sister told my son how I used to frighten her with tales of axe murderers, and the one time I hid under her bed with an axe, only to slither out when she went to bed. I can't remember doing that but it was nice that she remembered it and told my son of her crazy brother. At least now he knows that my telling of horror stories at his bedtime is not new. Ha, ha, ha.
With six months to live, in my view, this should be extended to even emotional baggage. There are so many things that are best to be let sink to the bottom of the sea, given a burial and forgotten. In my 40+ years there are some things that I have done and still cringe when I recalled them - not intentionally but they land uninvited.
New Year is upon us. A new decade is beginning. Its time to do some spring cleaning - both physically and mentally. With six months to live, it will do a lot of good to us to keep life simple and clear out all the clutter. Maybe then we can leave this Earth in peace when its time.
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