They Are More Beautiful If They Are Few

In my last post, I wrote about collecting more and more photos and memories during the months leading to our eldest leaving home for university and during a trip to Quebec for his last March Break. 

Luckily, we managed to have another family trip that summer driving along Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. I tried to remember every detail of this "last" trip together. I collected rocks from every beach we went to. I took photos of the rocks and separated them so that I could remember wich ones were from where. 

The rocks remind me of a special time. One of my favourite photos is the photo I took of my husband taking a photo of our kids skipping rock. Of course, his photo is a better photograph, but I love the moment that I captured.

The rocks were a memento of our time on the beach but not every beach we stopped at was special on this day. The one that 'took our breath away' in relation to the rocks was Big Bay; "The Stone Skipping capital of Canada.

But like I would later read,

"One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few. " Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Or in my case that day, one cannot collect all the beautiful rocks on the beach.

I would also add that although a few are beautiful, the collection as a whole on the beach are most beautiful.

I still haven't done anything with my rock collection. They are in a beautiful box but not being enjoyed or remembered.

Before learning this recent lesson, I continued to collect more and more memories. I took lots of photos and collected more and more mementos.

Last year, I started the Revive55 Project with the goal of preserving all these moments I had been collecting. How could I better remember and enjoy all these memories? During my project though, I read this shell quote and took an uncluttering course which changed my opinion.

While writing about collecting shells in Gift From The Sea, Anne Morrow Lindberg reflects:

"I couldn't even walk head up looking out to sea, for fear of missing something precious at my feet. The collector walks with blinders on; he sees nothing but the prize."

"In fact, the acquisitive instinct is incompatible with true appreciation of beauty." 

"For it is only framed in space that beauty blooms."

I may not need a box full of rocks to remember this holiday, but one (or a few) special ones from this beach. 

Even our kids were looking at their feet and found precious rocks, like this heart-shaped one because they know I love hearts. This rock "framed in space" in my daughter's hands is the most special.

As beautiful as the lake or the sky is, I do have to admit that the rocks are the precious part of this beach.

Although I have read this idea of less is more in various places, and appreciate its message; I still struggle with getting rid of things. During my Revive55 Project, I did select the most precious from some of my possessions. I have gotten rid of some of the least special but there is still more decluttering and deleting to be done.

To help, I have accepted that I need an 'in-between' phase. I am putting more in storage to see what I miss and want to better appreciate and what I am ready to let go of, even if I still like them. That's the challenge with decluttering mementos. We kept them because they mattered but as the years and moments accumulate, our space isn't big enough to keep the growing collection. Perhaps as time passes, our memory of the item will diminish so it will be easier to let go.

As I see my precious keepsakes surrounded by space rather than cluttered with others, it gives me more motivation to continue to make more space.