Stuff, and the Lack Thereof

I have a colleague that I work with regularly named...well we'll just say his name is "Doug". Anyway, Doug and I were having this great conversation the other day in Cheyenne about money and finances, and what to do with money an finances. We had both recently purchased new "toys" in the form of motorcycles. We both then promptly upped or life insurance.

It was interesting when we started talking about it just how much crap we had. We're both married without kids. Doug is a few years older than me, so he rightfully has a little more crap. But it was interesting how much crap we can accumulate and then how tuff it is to find an excuse to use all that crap. Doug was in fact having buyers remorse from having so much crap. We're alot alike Doug and I, although totally different. I was feeling a little over crapped myself.

On the way home from Cheyenne I made the decision. I was going to sell some crap. Funny, it worked out. I had a restoration project 68' Bronco in the garage, and a pickup, a couple motorcycles, several billion guns, skis, snowboard, climbing gear... I decided to sell the most logical thing... the truck. It sold super fast and I used the money to pay off the truck's loan, a toy loan, the wifes old school loan, and some leftover lasik costs. The end result...except for my house payment, I'm basically debt free...weird.

I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I fell like the same guy...sort of. I may change my mind as soon as I have to fix something on my now quasi 40 year old daily driver. But hey, it has character, and a roll cage. You know what? I thought I'd miss the truck, I've sold some guns, thought I'd miss those, but you really don't. It's just crap, and you can only have so much of it before it owns you, rather than vice versa. I like having a few toys, and a cool car, but in the end I could be just as content without them. They are really just substitutes for the finer things in life. The best things in life aren't really free. They have to be earned, and given.

I think the best things are memories of an Elk hunt in the middle of nowhere, a glass lake at sunset, flying through the air the moment before gravity claims you, trusting someone with your heart and being rewarded with love, working for a noble cause, a room full of people you care about, the moment when you felt like a rock star even though you wheren't, seeing a child laugh. Those are the really good things.

All the other stuff is just...well...crap.