Stuff

It is amazing what one can accumulate in a year. Our upcoming move has forced me to look at all the possessions we now have and consider once again the role stuff plays in out lives. We arrived 10 months ago with three suitcases apiece and a foggy understanding of life in China. Now, it will take some significant effort to relocate and set up a new apartment. 

I sort of thought I had gotten all this reevaluation of stuff out of my system last year when we sold the majority of our possessions and downsized from a 3,100 square foot home (with two barns and a garage) to a 10x10 storage unit and some space in my son's garage. Now that was a monumental achievement. But somehow new stuff crept back into our lives, taking up additional space in our apartment and our lives. 

Don't get me wrong. It there is a certain amount of stuff we need to live life and a certain amount we need to function within the society we live in. And, I kinda like having a bread machine, a US-sized fridge, a dryer, and a set of dumbbells (which I have yet to use). And I guess that's somewhat the point: we can stand before the mirror to evaluate our lives and think we have attained a new understanding of life, and yet once we turn away, we forget what we've seen and fall back into old patterns -- or maybe realize our new perspective was a bit limited. 

Life is also a continual process of accumulation -- an accumulation of memories and relationships. And unlike the physical realm, we have an infinite capacity for storage, though I must admit that much of what I have stored has gotten buried and forgotten. Yet, life is always before us presenting us with situations, opportunities, disappointments, and people to add to this mental storage unit.

Sandy, Emily, and I took time to do some inventory last night of the memories and relationships we have accumulated over this past year. We talked of our experiences thinking of the things that surprised us, frustrated us, and entertained us, such as the time Sandy ordered some tea and then was given a stuffed panda. Thinking she had been given a free gift (when in reality, it was what the store used for order numbers) she put it in her backpack. She then noticed the employees arguing about something, and finally one girl came over and simply said "Panda is mine."

We have spent countless hours trying simply to figure out life here from using the bus system and ordering taxis (and trying to use the shared bikes) to figuring out where to buy things and (equally important) how to get them home, to ordering food in local restaurants. 

But the most important stuff we have accumulated has been the relationships: the tea shop owner who befriended us and made copies of our keys for us (sounds like a simple thing but it was monumental for us); the students we had over for dinner to give them a taste of Christmas; the many people we have given advice to; the parents we have talked to about rearing children; the expats who have helped us out with understanding how to get thing done (medical stuff is tough in a foreign land); the taxi driver who shared of his marital struggles; the student who has a dysfunctional relationship with his family; the joyful young man who has a heart to help his people and has become a gege (big brother) to Emily; the Mexican family who moved into our area and needed help settling; the young woman who made a life-changing decision.  And so many, many more.

This is the stuff we have truly accumulated. This is the stuff that life is made of.