to make simple or simpler, as:
a: to reduce in complexity or extent
most of us remember reading walden by henry david thoreau either in high school or in freshman english class. he subscribed to the simple living lifestyle. one that removes the extraneous elements in life and focuses on things that contribute to a life filled with purpose.
over the past month, i have been asked countless times some form of the following questions: why are you selling your house? why are you moving out of your dream house? why are you leaving lakewood? but, sharon, you LOVE this house!
in all honesty, my initial reaction to the idea of selling was resistance. and not just a regular, "i dont want to do this" resistance. rather a full fledged kicking and screaming in the dirt like a toddler tantrum-type resistance. i DO love this house. i DO love the neighborhood and my wonderful neighbors. this was about 4 months ago. the subject was dropped and we didn't talk about it much. last month it came up again, but this time when the decision was actually made things were different. i was resolute. it was almost a peace filled decision. while i did wavier a few times in the early weeks we both realized that this house is simply sticks and bricks. the house doesn't define us. yes, there is a pride element of selling your house because you know the questions will follow. what will we say? because the truth just seems so foreign to us as a society.
the simple answer is that we decided to take a line from mr. thoreau's manuscript and "simplify, simplify" it was something i was so afraid of, but once we took the first step, it seemed so silly to have put so much energy into resisting something that makes so much sense.
about 5 months ago, we gave up television. lee and i were watching too much television and not doing enough talking. we were so out of touch with each other. giving up the tv made a HUGE difference in our relationship. michael and molly were watching television, pretty much, all day. as soon as their little eyes opened in the mornings the requests for this show or that show started. within a day or two of the television being off, the requests stopped. i haven't heard "can i watch little bill" in months. they don't ask. michael wants to watch the rangers with his dad but that's pretty much the extent to which he requests television. molly never asks. i record so you think you can dance and watch it. that's it. no more is the endless queue of recorded shows that we have to read everyday searching for a time filler. now we color, and play and read books. giving up facebook alone helped me to re-direct my energy where it belongs.
ok, i've gone on for long enough. i've just been thinking about the word simplify and how a weight has been lifted from my shoulders since we've decided to employ it in our lives. so, when you see the moving truck in front of malcolm, just know, we're moving UP to the simple life.
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