Thankful for Too Much

Cleaning out things in my mother's house reminds me of how privileged we are in the U.S. I often accused Mom of having more clothing than some entire third world countries and I am convinced that I was not exaggerating very much. I've made two trips to Goodwill and have the car packed up for a third and final one. To give a couple of minor examples, Mom had 57 pairs of slacks. Even allowing for heavier stuff for winter and lighter stuff for summer, that is decidedly excessive. I am reasonably sure that, excluding the ones that are part of suits (which would only add 2) and not counting 3 pairs of sweats, I have well under a dozen total. Or, consider sweatshirts. Mom had at least 17. I have exactly 3 and all of those were bought when I was somewhere that was colder than I expected it to be.

People in much of the world are lucky to have one change of clothes. Traveling in general, and in the developing world in particular, has taught me how little one really needs. So I am thankful to have the opportunity to have too much and the wisdom to realize that enough is enough.