Retirement: Owning Possessions in My Seventies

There comes a time when things take on a lot more clarity, and owning things is more burden than pleasure.

Wondering around the world, just looking at the view. Me, feet showing, viewing Cape Town. Taken in 2016. It was a lovely day. Beauty heals the human soul. We should focus more on it. Owning too many things destroys the human soul. Own photo.

Perhaps it started early — boarding school days — when we were only allowed four changes of clothing to last us the entire semester. That was besides our uniforms. In South Africa, kids wear uniforms. The reason given is so that there is no differentiation between those with parents who can buy their kids fabulous outfits, and those who don’t. Uniforms make us one, and, perhaps, as I look back, it was there that I became accustomed to the idea that I didn’t need too many clothes. It was in the doing that life became more active…

Perhaps, it’s also the fact that for most of my life, I haven’t had the money to buy much, or perhaps it’s because I was always content with very little, I don’t know.

During these last two months, as I’ve packed house, selling up, going through my daughter’s things, I realize how much sharing a home with her these last four years influenced me to buy…