Day 37 of Lent 2020
Kind of a Whoopsie! happened with my blog. For some reason, it didn’t schedule the post for Monday …gotta love technology. Anyways, here it is on Wednesday!
Sunday, I was taking some time to clean our master bathroom and do some organizing in the process. (It’s still a work in progress.) I noticed to my chagrin dozens of products, perfumes, sprays, lotions, and more that I have hoarded and bought over the years. I literally could start my own Bath and Body Works store!
Those moments when I needed to find my signature fragrance when Estee Lauder discontinued my favorite one or when I just had to have that “miracle” cure for my fine, limp hair that never worked have filled my cabinets full. Did I really need these things? Probably not. But there was something during that time that was therapeutic about it. These things I could buy were “mine” and I didn’t need to share them with the guys in my family.
However, this quarantine has really taught me something now that we have stayed put for three weeks (except for the weekly grocery run to keep three teenage boys fed). We have all we need. We have enough.
Our society has been craving for wanting more. When our family would go on our yearly cruise, in the beginning, it was fairly affordable for a family of five to go. As of late, it has become more and more expensive to go.
I also remember a time where flights to Las Vegas were $99 each way! And once you were there, Las Vegas was a great and inexpensive getaway for the weekend. Last year Micky and I went and the buffet at the Winn was $40 per person for lunch!
$1000 phones and $150 earbuds are the norm in our country. Commercials and ad campaigns are savvy in making us think we just have to have what they are selling. I have seen students with phones and earbuds they don’t need but just have to have because everyone else they know has them. Heaven forbid they walk around school in non-name brand stuff.
This pandemic, even though it is scary, deadly, and devastating for thousands of people and families, it is a genuine reset for our society. Once people are out and about again, companies are going to have to put their greed aside and lure their customers back to them again. That may prove to be difficult for some companies.
Things are going to be different in our world when this virus subsides and the quarantine is over. Things have been different for our family already. We have been able to put away the wallets and the credit cards and use what we have already purchased until it is gone. I have changed my tune and this Lent I am realizing that I don’t need to buy things to make me happy. It may make me happy for the moment. But that feeling goes away just as quickly as the dollars in my bank account.
What really matters are not the things we buy, but the home we create with our family, our friends we have acquired along our journey, and the knowledge that we are making a difference in this world by our presence.