You Can’t Take it with you ~ Guest Post and Giveaway

Posted on | January 21, 2010 | No Comments

One of the wonderful things about the Internet and social networks like Facebook, is the ability to reconnect with people who remind you of special times in your past. Growing up I was fortunate to attend a Waldorf School for much of my schooling. I know many people are not familiar with that type of teaching and I’ll save the details for another post, but I loved it and it was an amazing time in my life that I am very grateful for.

I left the Waldorf School in the 9th grade and went to a public High School. It’s hard to keep in contact with people once you leave the group and the age and grade made it even harder. They quickly forgot about me and I needed to concentrate on connecting with my new friends.

This brings us to the magic of the Internet. I will admit that it was a little emotional for me to get friend requests on Facebook from some of my old friends. It was a really great feeling to know I wasn’t forgotten. I’m sure some were just curious as to how I turned out, but others were truly glad to reconnect. One of them was my friend Shannon.

I have some fond memories of Shannon, her mom and her sister. They were always so nice and happy and welcoming. Shannon was one of those people who was always confident and seemed to fit in wherever she went, so I wasn’t surprised to see that besides having a beautiful family she has become an author and writer. Fortunately for me she also blogs. The following is a post from her blog that I wanted to share with you. Once you are done reading it be sure to go to her Facebook page and enter her giveaway for a copy of her book Making a Family Home (Click here for more about her book).

You Can’t Take It With You - By Shannon Honeybloom ~ Honeybloom at Home

In light of the recent economic times, and having a general feeling of wanting to live simply (and because my husband says “If you can’t eat it, don’t buy it”), I am trying to pull back even more in the shopping arena.

But, shopping can be fun, even window shopping, as one looks at an array of beautiful things and imagines what kind of life one might have if a Red Poncho was part of the picture, or what might happen in life if a Pink Chinese Lantern illuminated the living room.

Shopping can be about possibility. But in an effort not to indulge my fantasies too much, I have added an additional inner conversation to my interior dialogue. I offer myself a few words, in the form of a question, in order to stop myself from really buying that Red Poncho or that Pink Chinese lantern.

Actually, two questions: for awhile I would say to myself “Well, I can’t take it with me when I die,” but that basically stopped me from buying anything, even some necessities, so I had to modify that particular line of questioning.

Perhaps because I moved around a lot as a young child, I have a little wanderlust in me and I would love to move somewhere where they don’t speak English, say Mexico (or Austria, anyone?) for example, for a year (or so) while the children are still young.

If that ever becomes possible, I won’t be able to drag all of my stuff with me. So now, before I take the Pink Chinese Lantern in hand, I ask myself “Can I take this to San Miguel/Vienna when I move there?” More often than not, the answer is no, and I envision the poor Pink Chinese Lantern, meant to shine and glow, but destined, because of my poor planning, to sit in a storage unit and grow old and dusty. So I don’t buy it (but isn’t it lovely).

The Red Poncho, on the other hand: let’s just say, my life as I know it has changed completely.