Precious items

I’ve only been in my beautiful home for 6 years and I feel so blessed to have found it.
I was actually going through a divorce that I was not allowed to tell people about, weird but then so had the marriage been. Anyway to keep my sanity I kept focused on the future and how it was going to be so wonderful. The only thing I had, was my love of walking and my belief in the future.
So to keep a distance from my problem I would walk and walk and walk.
One day I came across a flat for sale. It would stretch me totally financially but I was drawn to it. I came inside and just loved the place. It had been owned by an old lady, a heavy smoker who had not invested love or time on it, yet I could see through it all and knew it was for me.
I could not put an offer in, the time was not right though I still knew that place was for me. 4 months later, I could make an offer and the place was still for sale. It became mine and I poured the love into the place. Wonderful new kitchen, new bathroom, hours scrubbing away nicotine stains and tons of places to put stuff.
Stuff I’d dragged with me from my previous ‘lives’, my memory box, love letters from a previous relationship, my crystal glasses, my favourite china. Pictures of times past and places visited. The little plaque that said ‘live the life you love’. My old music cassettes and LP’s. I’ve had a massive throw out and realised that the more storage we have the more we fill it up and yet does that make us happier?

It was only much later after buying my flat that I found out that the lady who had lived here had died in the same nursing home as my Mum had been in. They died on the same day and my Mum always told me that I would always have a roof over my head and I like to think she had a helping hand in getting me this place.

Now as I clear out my home ready to move on to a new chapter in my life I have realised a few things.
One is that our memories are not stored in boxes, they are in our hearts and always with us.
Also, that instead of keeping stuff because it is beautiful just to keep them on a shelf and admire what possessions we have, we should actually be using those possessions. So a few treasured things are going on my journey with me and may not come back as now is the time to enjoy those items and make new memories using them to fill our hearts and take again with us on our next journey.
Finally we can store plenty of love and great memories in our hearts and that heart can never be too full. And yes it will give us great happiness.

So next time I decorate my dining room table and none of the plates match or glasses even perhaps napkins and you are invited, then remember that you have been invited to that table in love and sharing and that I’m sharing my treasures with you. Makes me think of the wedding table set in the film Mama Mia, nothing matched but the event was full of love.