George Carlin famously said that a house is just a place to keep your stuff. Get more stuff and you need a bigger house. Have a big house, you feel compelled to get more stuff. The balance of nature requires the vacuum be filled, often with unnecessary, essentially worthless, rarely used stuff. Reading Carl Honore’s book, In Praise of Slowness, set upon a path of less, slower, more mindful living. Is it easier and more family oriented to go straight home after work and eat something already in the cupboard? A box of macaroni and cheese with a bowl of tomato soup is no less healthy than drive through choke-n-puke. It saves money and avoids the Happy Meal toy….an invention aimed specifically toward pediatric merchandising strategies. In a mindful response to slower living, I started divesting myself of the accumulated, but rarely useful, clutter. I now look down a short week toward having to move. It is a move I did not anticipate. This sweet little house in which I have lived the last 12 months was a weight station, a place to pause and catch my breath. I was to regroup in this space before I pushed on to THE HOUSE. In my heart and mind, I have carried a house….nay, a HOME…..for near 15 years. I must now relocate; the owners of this home have gotten sucked into the vortex of the mortgage and housing foreclosure storm. The second degree of separation is that as their renter, I am displaced. It is a scramble. It is a blessing that I divested myself of the debris and extra baggage a year ago. I can carry forward all that is in this dwelling with assurance that it is needed and useful. And it will form the foundation of what will become our home. The move helps focus and realign the energy necessary to turn that dream into a reality. I have a more linear path.