I just got back from having desert at the house of one of my fellow cast members from “Death of a Salesman”. He and his family invited one of the other cast members and I out for the night and we had a fantastic time. It was really nice to spend time with them again and to talk about everything under the sun.
What really struck me tonight was their house. It’s so simple and classic. They sold a lot of their stuff last year when they moved up from California and have kept their house very simple since. I asked Tish how it felt to get rid most of their stuff and she said, “Wonderful!” The art side of me loves having lots of books, some pictures, and those little special things around me. But there is another voice right next to the first one that loved the lack of clutter, the clean look of the rooms, the beauty of clarity physically expressed.
Being there, I felt so at peace. So calm. When you don’t have all that stuff to look at and think about, it’s amazing how clean it all feels, much less encumbered, much lighter. I think I could learn to like that. Last week I finished reading “Plain and Simple”, a story about a woman who lives with the Amish for a time. She learned a similar truth. When she got back she redid her kitchen to be very simple and clean. I really liked that and it was nice to see tonight how it could be done and still feel warm and welcoming. If I can make the time, I would like to go through some of my things again to see if there are other things I would like to clean out. Simplicity is a beautiful thing.
365-09 #77
So glad you found a copy of “Plain and Simple”. I’m doing the sorting throwing thing, too. It feels good to clear stuff out, and then the artist part of me wants to keep everything and turn it into art. Yeah, right. I love uncluttered places, but i don’t think I’ll ever get there. Now my folks are trying to pare down even more and we can’t let all those “family heirlooms” and memories end up God know where, can we? 🙂