Our friend Stu often writes about stuff... sharing with us divers and sundry things that are going on in his life..

But the stuff I was thinking about today is much less esoteric than that.. more in the vein of George Carlin's "stuff".. like when you travel all over the world leaving stuff in one place after another.. so that in the end.. you just need to buy more "stuff"...

What made me start thinking about this today was a note from an old friend.  She said, "Show me a man's possessions and I'll show you what's truly important to him."

That made me stop and think.. since right now I'm reacquiring "stuff" after having purged so much from my life.

I used to have a lot of stuff... stuff from my childhood, my work, from working on houses.. all sorts of stuff.  When I left Michigan, I got rid of some stuff.  When I left Wyoming I got rid of more stuff.  When I left Alaska, I got rid of a lot of stuff.  And when I moved onto the sailboat.. well.. I kinda had to get rid of almost all my stuff.. all but the stuff that was most important to me. 

The first time I purged.. it kinda hurt.  But by the time I moved onto the boat.. it was more of a relief.. a cleaning.. a catharsis.  It felt good to get rid of stuff. 

So now I find myself buying a chair, and a couch, and a bed for my new place in CA.  But to be honest, I don't think I'm going to get a bunch more stuff.  Now that I've learned to live without it.. I think I like that.. and I'm going to stay that way...

Because what you have doesn't really say that much about you.. be it a car or a boat or a house.. but what you've done with your life.. and who you are... speaks volumes.  I've known people that have spent most of their money traveling.. working a job for a few months or years... just to travel somewhere else.  They don't have much stuff... but they are deeper and richer than those who have mansions.  A lack of stuff can say as much about a person as a pile of stuff.. depending on what the stuff is.. or isn't...

So when someone walks into my new place.. it's probably going to look pretty empty.. because the stuff that means the most to me is inside.  And if that's the case.. well.. I'll be happy to be judged by my stuff...

But if you do drop by.. feel free to try out the new red chair while you're here... I think you'll like it...