10 down, 11 to go...

Human Highlighter Suit Tally: 7

Boxes, that is.  What came out first?  My box of books, the kids’ box of toys, and the three wardrobe boxes—the latter because they are very easy to unpack and because they are very big.   So getting the boxes themselves out freed up some key some space.  And then the box that had some toiletries in which one thing sprung a leak.  We had to take care of that one.  We’ve begun digging into several of the remaining ones, and I try to make a bit of progress every day.

I swear, the first few days I was incapable of wearing anything besides the clothes I already had.  I felt like an animal who has been in a cage for a year and, once the door is opened, cannot leave.  I’ve gotten over it.  I’ve worn my flannel pajamas, my anorak, by black boots.

So I am grateful to have our stuff here, mostly.  However, I am at the same time struck by just how much we have, especially given that we brought only a fraction of our belongings.  The other day an American woman I know told me about a friend who has just returned to the States after having spent a year here.  She sent an email back to her friends here in which she detailed all of the things that she saw with fresh eyes when she got back.  One of them?  Stuff. 

I get it.  I could live with a lot less.  I should live with a lot less.  And I did live with a lot less the past three months. Happily.  I am almost ready to take a public vow not to buy a single new item of clothing over the next year.  Almost ready, but not quite.  When I am, I’ll let you know and perhaps you will join me.

Barcelona is not an inexpensive city, and Alec and I have remarked on how people manage to get by, particularly given the dire economic crisis folks are facing here.  One reason?  They buy less stuff.  On average, people have fewer clothes, fewer cars, fewer gadgets, less space in their homes.  Quality of life has much more to do with how you spend your time than with how you spend your money.

The fact that we have to do something with everything we buy here—either ship it back or give it away-- provides us with a healthy incentive to ask ourselves if we really need whatever it is that catches our eye.

Given the demise of cheap credit wrought be the crisis, it seems as though there will need to be a move away from an economy based on consumption.  Such a shift would certainly help preserve the environment as well.  Manuel and I have been talking about this quite a bit, and it might be a new direction for my work.  We’ll see.  In the meantime, I’m grateful for what I have.