Living Simple

This entry was written on June 11th.

Do I really need this?
This simple question never seemed so difficult as it did today, when I began moving out of the house in Greensboro.
While packing my belongings, this question pounded my brain. For my life's next chapter I want to carry a smaller load. To do so, I needed to get rid of some extra baggage. I threw away some of my oldest, worthless, but priceless artifacts that once served a great purpose, but now are aged, damaged, and overgrown. I donated two-and-a-half garbage bags of clothes to Goodwill. These were the clothes that once covered my back, my feet and legs, but now are too small to cover my bellybutton, ankles and heals. They will now become someone else's clothes.
I got rid of the pit-stained undershirts, the unmatching shoes and the swiss cheese socks. But I donated the middle school hand-me-downs, the ripped, button-less pants, and out-of-style sweaters.
The point in this donation was that I need to get used to the minimum - both in life, and on this bike trip. In both occasions, I have to be prepared for the worst. If I fail to find a paying job after this trip, I will need to survive without things that I have never lived without. Similarly, if Chet and my camp gear is lost or damaged, and we can't find a camping store before nightfall, we will have to become as comfortable as possible with what we have.