One thing I enjoy, among many others, is going to an auction. I like to get there early, peruse the items up for auction, determine what I am interested in and wait for the auction to begin. My goal is not to accumulate more things, as if I really need more stuff. I buy with the intent of flipping items on ebay. When I first started attending auctions, I would buy tables for usually $5-10, of items not sold but placed in a discarded lot to be sold. I acquired a lot of needless stuff that no one wanted at the auction or on ebay. I learned over time to be more discriminate and disciplined in what I purchased. My most effective purchase was buying a set of watches for $80 and finding that one watch in the group alone was worth $600. Most items sell for $20-50 but it all accumulates over time.

Yet every time I attend I am reminded of this one fact, that life doesn’t consist in the accumulation of possessions. With the sound of a gavel, all of our prized possessions can be gone, everything we have treasured or accumulated in our lives.

Possession are not made to last. 

We have reached that stage of life where we made a conscious decision to seriously downsize. Papers that were piled in corners and cabinets were shredded. Items of no value to us or our children were donated. What remained has been placed in storage and will be dealt with, before the sound of the gavel. We have chosen a more simple approach to life. This conscious decision does come with a cost or better yet, with the need to make some radical choses on what is most important to us. What do we want out of life, with whatever time is allotted to us; more stuff or enriching our relationships and fulfilling our purpose in life. We have chosen the latter and for us this is “the road less traveled”.

For those of us with a more vintage memory, let me quote from Roy Rogers and Dale Evans 

Happy trails to you,
Until we meet again.
Happy trails to you,
Keep smiling until then.

See you somewhere on the road of life.