Type A goes Awol

I'm a raving type A. With a tad bit of OCD thrown in for good measure. Yes, it really does matter which direction my two-way light switches are when I go to bed.

So I have to admit that I found myself a bit surprised when I watched a trailer for a movie the other day and found myself seeing the appeal to a life like the one documented. There is a movie called Surfwise. (I'd like to see it but I've heard the language is awful-if you see it, let me know if it really is bad or if it's worth seeing!) It is about a family that surfed. And that's pretty much it. The dad was a dr who got fed up with society and materialism and all that junk that bogs us down, so he decided to pick up and go surfing. He had surfed for years in his spare time and decided that he didn't want to be tied down anymore, so he and his wife and the few kids they had at the time bought a camper and took off. They drove around for years and raised their kids on the beaches. They ended up having 9 kids, and they all surfed. The movie is a documentary of the family's life and a catching up to where they are now and how the kids have turned out.

I don't surf. I've never tried it. It wasn't that part of it that was appealing to me. I could easily be a beach bum though; it comes naturally for a sun baby! :) What appealed to me so much was the lack of being tied down. To the mortgage, to the "things"....to all the stuff that invades our lives each day. There are 10 little shorts from the movie that you can watch on their website, and each one includes the phrase "9 kids living in a 24 foot trailer". By the time I'd heard that phrase for the third or fourth time, I was irritated. Because that statement, while technically correct, isn't really true. They didn't LIVE in the camper. They may have slept in it, and driven in it each day, but they LIVED out wherever they happened to be, mostly on beaches. There is an appeal to that kind of freedom.

Don't get me wrong; I am grateful for my mortgage (as odd as that sounds), for the responsibility that comes with a house and a schedule and church and friends and on and on. I guess I just admired that they weren't tied down with "things". They lived minimally. They weren't trying to keep up with anyone. I would like to do better at that. It makes me think of Dallin H. Oaks comments on "Good, Better, Best"; a poignant reminder to pare down to what is essential, and not let a million little things-no matter how good they may be-overtake our lives. As I look around at everything taking up space not only in my house, but also in my mind (that mental to-do list) and on my schedule, I realize that there are a number of things that can be eliminated. So that is the goal now-get rid of the life clutter.

"Live Simply, so that others may simply live." -Ghandi