Camelot is not a place... Letting go of the physical; Holding on to the philosophy!

 

It was the morning of our last day in our home before the sale.  We had a mixture of both melancholy and fondness as we walked thru the house for the last time.  Countless holiday parties in the living room, family gatherings at the dinner table, BBQ's on the deck. Poker parties and movie nights in the rec room, reading in the loft from a wall covered with books.  

Our artwork and decor had already been packed, sold or gifted... with the exception of a painted wall that one of Phyl's clients had rendered of a wizard and dragon leading down to the rec room-memories of past magical moments and fanciful visions. We paused midway down the steps, committing the brush strokes to memory as we realized it would probably be painted over by the new owners.

Jer smiled to himself before sharing his thoughts with Phyl... in reflection, our home had been akin to the paradigm of Camelot, a place represented in some ways by the painted wall in our staircase.  According to Merriam-Webster, Camelot can be defined as "a time, place, or atmosphere of idyllic happiness."  And while, there certainly were some tough times, overall, we have come to realize that "the good old days" always seem to represent shared experiences, sometimes joyful, sometimes sad, always memorable. 

Later, as we sat by the fireplace one last time, it occurred to us that the most important "things" we wanted to treasure as we moved forward was not our physical possessions, but our philosophy about life; that our next grand adventure would provide us with an array of new "good old days" experiences -  and that we should keep top of mind an often quoted saying attributed to John A. Shedd, "A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for."  In short, we were moving forward with the intention of accumulating more new experiences versus more new "things!" And, we've brought a conviction with us that when we find our new community, we'll create another Camelot for ourselves - one richer in content because of those experiences.

Lessons learned from letting go of most of our possessions...

• Make New Memories... life can become stagnant when we become too attached to our surroundings.  For us, there's been a realization that when our world was filled with things, we needed to tend to them, often in lieu of creating new experiences.
• There's a new found freedom in traveling light... one cannot focus more attention toward what is in front of us when we're carrying all of yesterday's paradigms and possessions. It takes courage to let go of what we know - or what we believe is safe - but it's the only way to expand our horizon and perspectives. 
• Cherish the present moment... don't take anything or anyone for granted. Once again, the pandemic has made it undeniably apparent that none of us are guarantied tomorrow or even the memories of yesterday. As Dan Millman, a personal development author, once wrote, “Here and now...breathe and relax...in battle and in life”