March 2000

I’ve been living in a city of 750,000. It’s a nice place in the summer — lots of trees and parks and green space. But it’s miserable in the winter, with long, cold nights and wind and snow. I’ve had enough of that. Winter warmth has beckoned to me more often than not, and I’ve traveled from Africa to the southern U.S. and Mexico to escape the cold.

I have found a new place to live. It’s out west, in southern Alberta. In a small town. The summers will be hot, and the winters will be a lot milder than what I have become accustomed to experiencing. It is also a much shorter ride to the winter warmth of southern California and the Baja.

This new place is furnished. And yes, I know. I have accumulated a lot of things. Upstairs and downstairs is full of treasure – at least it seems like treasure. It is said one man’s treasure is another’s trash, and I’m afraid that might be very true in my case. I have boxes left unpacked from my last move, ten years ago or more. These will be opened and inspected and the contents probably given away. I have papers and books, magazines and photographs, posters, artwork – all the things one collects over the years.

And let’s not forget the furniture. Or the stereo, the television, the laserdisc and dvd players and the movie collection to go with them.

What to keep, what to discard? What to put in storage? Yes, storage. To be sure, not all I own will be sold, destroyed, given to charity.

So many mementos of past times, past lives, past loves. Of course, I will always have those memories.

But good grief! What will I do with the rest of it?