Of what you don't need

Arrivederci Piedmont Court

Last Friday, I was in Santa Cruz for the weekend preparing for a downsizing of sorts.  It involved clearing out personal belongings from a vacation condo we sold two days ago. 

When in Santa Cruz, I got into a morning ritual of going to Santa Cruz Roasting Company and ordering my favorite cup of coffee, Santa Cruz Dark.  I’d grab a copy of the local free newspaper, Good Times, and read it while enjoying what has got to be one of the most amazing cups of coffee in the whole world.

I eventually found my way to a weekly column written by a local real estate agent.  His column, titled Real Estate of Mind, always contained content of interest to me, and it was written in a style with which I could identify.  Perhaps this is because, like me, he’s undoubtedly a late-stage middle-aged man with a writing style having many similarities to mine; except his is better. 

Anyway, the article I read last Friday was on the subject of downsizing and it began by describing downsizing as a “vague, catch-all term we use to describe the strange place many people find themselves in these days as card-carrying (Social Security) members of a rapidly-aging culture.”  While I’m not yet collecting Social Security benefits, that day will soon arrive and earlier than that, in less than four months, I’ll officially be a Medicare Man.

The article struck so many chords with me as I began spending the last few days living in this pleasant vacation home we owned for three years.  I didn’t know what emotions and feelings I was about to experience preparing to say goodbye to a “good friend.”  A place where I had many relaxing weekend moments getting away from the rat race and having Santa Cruz and the surrounding areas as an amazing landscape venue for many workouts I took in while there.  Top of this list for 2019 was running the Wharf to Wharf 6-miler fun run, something I hadn’t done in twenty years.

Later in the article, another truth was revealed, “downsizing is the paradigm shift that tests all our long-held assumptions about success, comfort and desirability of stuff.” 

How true this is, I reflected, while psychologically preparing to get rid of “stuff” during my final weekend visit.

Perhaps what drove the nail in the coffin for me in reaching the end of the article were a couple pearls of wisdom.  The first was “I’ll never be younger than I am today.”

And, the second was “You can’t ever get enough of what you don’t need.”

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum