I have been planning recently for an international trip next spring. I have been on-line checking out places to see and ways to travel. I have chanced across several articles recommending that we “travel light.” One of these authors points out we don’t want to be carting our over-packed luggage to day destinations and that some of the airlines are charging extra for checked luggage and that often that extra stuff that you carted half-way around the world stays in your suitcase the whole trip. I think that this advice has application for everyday life as well. And inherent in the concept of “packing light” is packing for the trip you are taking.

When I got married, friends and relatives gifted us with household items they believed we would need for our new life together. We got the usual blender, toaster, china, candy dishes and tableware and a few exotic gifts as well: a glass lamp filled with seashells, a hand-hooked green and pink throw rug and a silver plated chafing dish. I dutifully packed it up and moved it to our 1st apartment. My new husband, a journalist, was just starting his career. We lived in a small apartment, in a small town and he worked at a weekly paper.

As his skills improved, he got a job at a weekly in a larger town and eventually jobs at daily papers. He worked hard and it didn’t take him long to prove his worth. We moved 9 times in 3 years. After the 1st year, I stopped unpacking the seashell lamp and the chafing dish. By the second year I stopped unpacking the china and crystal. By the third year I had stored it in my mother’s basement.

Truth was, when we socialized with friends from the paper, we usually went to a local bar. And if we entertained at home, we served coffee and dessert. I really didn’t need a silver chafing dish. It was someone else’s idea of what a young bride needed. It didn’t have anything to do with my actual life as it was lived.

I don’t move much anymore, I’ve lived in the same area for 20 years, but I still don’t have much need for a silver plated chafing dish. I guess, I could have found a use for it, maybe melting crayon bits for craft projects. Instead I gave it to someone who actually throws parties where it doesn’t look out of place.

I look at the different seasons of my life as different trips I have taken. In my 20’s, I was in and out of college and minimum wage jobs. I didn’t need a large, heavy, matched dining set. I needed freedom and flexibility and low cost. I lived in a series of creatively inexpensive housing arrangements. I had room mates, I was a nanny, I slept on a friend’s floor. In my 30’s, I had kids, got a job on my career path. I needed stability and a bigger roof. I bought a house and a dining room table and chairs. And it’s perfect for now, but I am beginning to think about the next season, the next trip.

After these kids leave home and start their own adventures, I do not want to be moping about the house waiting for them to come home at Thanksgiving. For me, Thanksgiving is gratitude and the joy of being together. We can do that anywhere. We could make it a point to do it differently every year. Rent a cabin. Eat at a restaurant. Work at the breadline. When they leave home, I plan on a new set of adventures for myself, things I couldn’t do when they were little or had daily music practice. I do not plan to let the house, or the dining room set or the flower boxes that have to be watered daily in the summer tie me down.

So while I’m planning my trip to Europe, and driving kids to music lessons and Tae Kwon Do practice, part of my brain is packing for the next trip, figuring out exactly which of my things will be helpful on the journey and which is unnecessary weight to carry. I haven’t got it figured out just yet. Maybe I’ll sell the house, maybe I’ll rent it out. Maybe I’ll join the Peace Corps. Whatever I decide, having just the right amount packed for the trip will make it more fun.

As you’ve moved through different phases of your life, what have you decided to take with you? What have you left behind? Let us know in the comments.

(image by geishaboy500 via flickr.)