In order to answer this question I found myself walking around my house looking at all of the “stuff” I own and asking myself if I thought one thing or another was the most important.
I knocked lots of things off the list right away. Electronics, clothes, shoes (come on…I like ‘em but I’m not that shallow!), furniture, bake ware….ya know, all the stuff that sits in and on cabinets and closets throughout the house.
And then I thought about my artwork.
The oil painting hanging over the couch in my office was my first piece of art worth more than $100 and I do love it. It’s a beautifully done oil painting of flowers in an exquisite frame. It is the most beautiful painting I own. But truthfully, it’s not even close to being the most important thing I own.
In addition to the painting, I now have 3 amazingly beautiful sculptures that Brian has given me since we separated (I know…don’t even get me started) that I certainly would make a point to grab and put in my car if I was told that I had 15 minutes to gather my possessions before my house were to blow up. But again…when it comes down to it, they aren’t the most important items I own.
So then I thought of all of the sentimental stuff I have.
Obviously, the first thing I thought of was our family photos. After Brian and I split up, I was the one who declared that I would be the keeper of the family photo albums (of which there are probably 20-25) and I have them neatly stacked on top of each other on storage shelves in the basement. Not that I don’t love to look through them, and cherish all of the pictures/history/memories in them…but the reality is that they “live” in the basement. So in all honesty, how can I proclaim them the most important items, when they gather dust in the bowels of my house 99.9% of the time?
Jewelry? I do now have some amazingly beautiful and sentimental pieces, and I would be absolutely heart sick if I ever lost them…(like a necklace that was my mom’s and another from Ally, a watch from my grandmother, earrings from Brian and a bracelet from Matthew) but I just can’t elevate any one of them to the status of “most” important thing that I own.
So how about books? There are a few (not many as I’m not a voracious reader like the other members of my family) that have shaped my life. They influenced the way I look at the world. They occupied hours of my life by taking me to places and times I’ll never visit. They broadened my mind. But they certainly are not the most important things in my life.
So what the hell could it be?
It’s my dogs.
We could get into a philosophical argument as to whether or not our pets are our property or chattel? But the reality is…that they (there are 4 of them now) are the most important “things” in my life.
I don’t treat them like things. I treat them like pets. That I love. And cherish. And care for.
And when it all comes down to it…if my house were on fire, the ONLY thing I would run in to rescue without thinking about it twice…would be my dogs. The rest…while important to one degree or another…are just not the most important things in my life.
It’s funny. I have stuff. Lots of stuff, actually. Too much stuff, some would say.
But what’s actually important?
What would I grab if there was a fire?
What do I love more than anything.
Of course, first and foremost, there’s the dogs. But most days I feel like they own me, and they’re not really things. And the importance that the two of them hold for me should be assumed.
So in terms of actual THINGS that I own, what’s the most important thing to me?
My computer has so much important stuff on in that it would be a total bummer if, for whatever reason, I no longer had it.
But is it the MOST important thing I own? No – it’s definitely not.
I have a ring that Mike gave me several years ago for Christmas. I love it. I wear it every minute of everyday. It makes me happy every time I look at it.
Yeah, I would say it’s a pretty damn important thing that I own. It’s not only beautiful, but holds an incredible amount of sentimentality too.
And the only thing that’s tied in first place with THAT ring is a new ring I got 2 weeks ago.
One of those rings.
THE ring.
The big one.
The one that came with a question and a promise from a boy who wears glasses and who’s my best friend.
Yeah, that’s my most important thing.
:-)
PS: I also got into graduate school for next Fall. I’ll be going to the University of Colorado for Speech Language Pathology. I was trying to come up with a cute way to make that part of the actual post, but I can’t come up with anything. BUT YAY I’M GOING TO GRADUATE SCHOOL.
(Followed closely by OH SHIT I’M GOING TO GRAD SCHOOL.)
(I have no similar fears about getting married.)
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