Sunday Musings – April 22, 2018
Today I am acutely aware that the more I clutter my life with stuff and rules the more complicated and stressful it is. Yesterday I was at the Apple store getting a new battery for my iPhone. Fortunately, I resisted purchasing an Apple watch or a new computer although I was tempted by both. While waiting for the battery to be installed I sat and wrote at the nearby coffee shop. After leaving the shop I stopped to buy groceries and managed to purchase only what was on my list. On the way, home the low tire pressure signal came on. I stopped to get air only to discover a nail in my tire. When I went to get the tire repaired, I discovered I needed a wheel lock tool to remove the tire. It was nowhere in the car. Who knew some newer cars required one? Fortunately, Gary was able to plug the tire without taking if off.
Earlier in the week the laptop I had just gotten back from the shop froze up when I tried to download the update. Back to the shop it went. It is now working while the other one is now in the shop.
One day last week the garage door decided it would open and close at will. The garage door people are coming to check it. For the moment, it is working. For many years I lived quite well without a garage or, when I did have a garage with a door one had to get out and manually open it.
The Keurig coffee pot seems to have a mind of its own despite me obeying all its mandates to descale it.
Friday, I attended a professional workshop on Ethics. The Ethics books for the counseling association, the Addiction Association and the social workers associations get thicker every year. Every attempt is made to cover every possible situation and to err on the side of caution which limits the services one can provide. In my mind, there are only two rules: Respect the client and use some common sense.
Once my family moved from Chicago to Oklahoma when I was age 5, we lived in a house for the next 11 years without electricity or running water. Of course, this meant that there were no indoor bathroom facilities. In many ways, life was simple, but hard work. No matter what the weather one had to pump water and bring it in. One also had to chop wood and maintain the fire in the stove which provided heat and a surface for cooking. There was no radio except occasionally when dad would take out the car battery and hook up the radio to it or when I could get my matchbox transistor radio working. Obviously, there were no electric appliances or computers. My first typewriter came in a case and did not require any source of energy other than my fingers. There were no cell phones but there was a fountain pen and some form of stationary/paper.
Food was canned and retrieved from the cellar. Eggs and chicken were fetched from the chicken house. Occasionally grandpa would bring fresh hog meat or someone else would bring fresh squirrel or rabbit.
Milk and cream came from grandma and grandpa’s cow or powdered from a box.
I am certainly not suggesting that I want to return to outdoor bathrooms or give up running water, central heat, air conditioning, the gas range, the closed garage with the automatic door, computers, the internet, my IPhone or the ability to buy what I need from nearby grocery stores. Yet, each of these “conveniences” comes with a price.
No matter how many of these things I have to make my life easier, I am still living the last portion of my life journey and will soon leave all this stuff to my son. He will live a bit longer and then someone will have to sort through and dispose of all his stuff.
What will I leave that is important? Hopefully a bit of love given out in units of time, shared resources, respect for mother earth, and the reminder that 12 step program people often pass on to the newcomer: “Keep it simple stupid.” I smile.
Written April 22,2018
Today I am acutely aware that the more I clutter my life with stuff and rules the more complicated and stressful it is. Yesterday I was at the Apple store getting a new battery for my iPhone. Fortunately, I resisted purchasing an Apple watch or a new computer although I was tempted by both. While waiting for the battery to be installed I sat and wrote at the nearby coffee shop. After leaving the shop I stopped to buy groceries and managed to purchase only what was on my list. On the way, home the low tire pressure signal came on. I stopped to get air only to discover a nail in my tire. When I went to get the tire repaired, I discovered I needed a wheel lock tool to remove the tire. It was nowhere in the car. Who knew some newer cars required one? Fortunately, Gary was able to plug the tire without taking if off.
Earlier in the week the laptop I had just gotten back from the shop froze up when I tried to download the update. Back to the shop it went. It is now working while the other one is now in the shop.
One day last week the garage door decided it would open and close at will. The garage door people are coming to check it. For the moment, it is working. For many years I lived quite well without a garage or, when I did have a garage with a door one had to get out and manually open it.
The Keurig coffee pot seems to have a mind of its own despite me obeying all its mandates to descale it.
Friday, I attended a professional workshop on Ethics. The Ethics books for the counseling association, the Addiction Association and the social workers associations get thicker every year. Every attempt is made to cover every possible situation and to err on the side of caution which limits the services one can provide. In my mind, there are only two rules: Respect the client and use some common sense.
Once my family moved from Chicago to Oklahoma when I was age 5, we lived in a house for the next 11 years without electricity or running water. Of course, this meant that there were no indoor bathroom facilities. In many ways, life was simple, but hard work. No matter what the weather one had to pump water and bring it in. One also had to chop wood and maintain the fire in the stove which provided heat and a surface for cooking. There was no radio except occasionally when dad would take out the car battery and hook up the radio to it or when I could get my matchbox transistor radio working. Obviously, there were no electric appliances or computers. My first typewriter came in a case and did not require any source of energy other than my fingers. There were no cell phones but there was a fountain pen and some form of stationary/paper.
Food was canned and retrieved from the cellar. Eggs and chicken were fetched from the chicken house. Occasionally grandpa would bring fresh hog meat or someone else would bring fresh squirrel or rabbit.
Milk and cream came from grandma and grandpa’s cow or powdered from a box.
I am certainly not suggesting that I want to return to outdoor bathrooms or give up running water, central heat, air conditioning, the gas range, the closed garage with the automatic door, computers, the internet, my IPhone or the ability to buy what I need from nearby grocery stores. Yet, each of these “conveniences” comes with a price.
No matter how many of these things I have to make my life easier, I am still living the last portion of my life journey and will soon leave all this stuff to my son. He will live a bit longer and then someone will have to sort through and dispose of all his stuff.
What will I leave that is important? Hopefully a bit of love given out in units of time, shared resources, respect for mother earth, and the reminder that 12 step program people often pass on to the newcomer: “Keep it simple stupid.” I smile.
Written April 22,2018
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