Objects de’ Bliss

Decluttering I get as there is nothing better than walking into a clean and well organized house. However, I firmly believe that there is room in life for sentimental tchotchkes that make you remember who you were, where you’ve been, and who you’ve shared your life with. Sitting on my mantle right now are two Oscars that I purchased in Denmark several years ago. To some folks, they might just be useless souvenirs, but to me they are a reminder of how much I want to be a screenwriter and of that fun and funky trip when I just decided to drive from Bremen Germany to Denmark for a day just because I thought it might be cool. Looking at those little trinkets, I’m reminded of driving around looking for the castle, calling one of my best friends to tell her I was in Denmark, and of how all the stores downtown were closed, but the mall was open.

My desk is full of trinkets that some might call useless doodads, but every one of them has meaning for me. There’s the wooden plate that says “Making a Life Comes Before Making a Living.” I purchased that the week after my dad died at a little store in Iowa and it serves as a reminder to slow down and enjoy life instead of being in fast pursuit of the a buck. There’s another one on my desk that says Life is about moments and not milestones. They both serve as a reminder that I only get one life to lead and I had better make the most of it. The wooden Buddha on my desk was purchased in China. I’d gone into this little curiosity shop (China is full of them) and found this hand carved Buddha that had amazingly good energy. The price started out around $20, but we negotiated it down to $9. Buddha is a reminder that there are good things in the world and that I need to have patience and grace.

The artwork on my walls is also full of meaning and memory. The paper scrolls of the seasons were purchased at the Humble Administrator’s Garden in China. At the time, I didn’t know where I would put them because I lived in an ordinary ranch house. However, two years later, we purchased a split level that had the perfect place to hang those scrolls. Over my desk hang prints of Mt. Fuji that I purchased at Mt. Fuji over 15 years ago. In Japan, they are just cheap throw away souvenirs, but they look beautiful when hung in a group and when I look at them, I remember watching the sunrise on top (okay at the base camp) of Fuji.

My objects de’ bliss don’t cause me to live in the past and spend all my time reliving old memories, they remind me that there have been good times in life and there will be again and they inspire me to go out and create more happy memories.