What the Robbery Taught Me

We are instilled from a very early age to look at the bright side of things when life starts chucking lemons at your head. You can choose to duck, catch it or let it hit you square in the face.  Sometimes the latter is inevitable. As was the case when after a quick errand I came back home to a ransacked house last month, just a couple weeks shy of Christmas. Let me just tell you it was heart breaking. Our televisions, computers, family heirloom jewelry, all gone with nothing but a broken door and trashed rooms left behind to tell the tale.

I was hurt and it took me up until now to really put into words how much it scared me too. As I started to think about whether the thieves had been watching us and if so for how long, I also started to wonder other things. Like why was our family chosen to be victimized? Why would someone take from us what we would gladly give? And of course, could I have prevented this all from happening?

Even once my anxiety began to dissipate, the questions lingered until finally I made the conscious decision to search for that silver lining. I reminded myself of Thoreau’s words:

“Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!”

These are words I have often repeated to myself in a mantra for de-cluttering my life and up until this all happened, I never really felt like I was truly living by it. Having my possessions taken forced me to step back and examine the sadness it caused me. Sure, being robbed of my mother’s pearls was painful. I had envisioned passing those on to Rosemary.  But really what I learned is that being upset for too long over “stuff” is sort of silly in the grand scheme.

Because without the noise of a tv we were able to enjoy the quiet crackle of the fireplace, read new books and even though I missed blogging, the lack of computers provided me with the opportunity to really unplug. I don’t want to “fritter away” my life with details. Iphones, laptops, jewelry. It’s all petty details. Stephen and I both agreed that we have been at our happiest in the times of our life when we had very little. And it’s because of this notion I move forward with a renewed appreciation for living simply.

And with that I leave you with one last quote from good ol’ Henry: “Simplicity is the law of nature for men as well as for flowers.”