Letting Go

A fellow blogger, AC, had an interesting blog post about letting go.  He turned it around and posted about "not letting go" with an interesting take on the same prompt.  AC, I am stealing your prompt since I don't have a "prompter."  Hope you don't mind.

Letting go, for me has several meanings.  First, I need to let go of "stuff." Material stuff.  I no longer need to, or have the desire to put up 9 Christmas trees as we used to do when I had a wife and more of a desire to decorate. Over the years since she has been gone, I have let go of many of these trees and decorations, donating them to either my church, or charities around the community.  I have purged my cabinets of unused kitchenware, and dishes.  I gave the good china and the china cabinet to my son, and other sets of dinnerware to my daughter, who had no desire to have the good stuff.  I have scaled down the amount of books on my bookshelves, since I really only read a book once. Why not either donate them to the Sr. Center or sell them at Half-Price Books, (for little or nothing, really not worth the trip.)

I no longer really care what other people think of me and  my life. I love life and embrace it every day. I don't always do things the way I should, but I don't care anymore. If I am happy, that's all that matters.  My family accepts me, warts and all, and that's what really matters. All else is just superficial anyway.  So, if I skip a meeting, or miss a Sunday at church, it's not all that important. And, in the grand scheme of things, I don't think it's life shattering if I stay up until all hours reading, or crafting, then sleep in in the morning.

I have let go of guilt, too. If any other of you readers have ever lost a spouse, you know that it causes lots of guilt. Why did they die? What could I have done to prevent it?  Could I have done more?  Well, I have let go of this guilt. I have also let go of the guilt that I am still here, and she is gone. That took a lot of time to get that right in my mind.  I will NOT ever let go of the love I had for my wife, but I have given myself permission to move on and let life go on without guilt.

So, here's my take on the "letting go" prompt I "stole" from AC.  I think these kinds of posts let people who read them get to know a fellow blogger just a little bit better.

Until next time,
Peace,
JE