my list of what i can't live without has grown shorter through the years as i realized most of what fills our lives is unnecessary and cumbersome - often getting in the way of what is true and essential. i cannot live without my children and my husband - they are the core of my life - what i think about from the time i wake until i sleep and they fill my dreams.

i always thought i couldn't live without pets filling my home, but i feel myself coming to a time when my cherished dogs and cats will be released one by one as they live out their lives - not to be replaced. gardening, which i have loved for many years is beginning to loose its hold - and while i once thought i couldn't live without my abundant and slightly overflowing perennial gardens and wide open spaces, i feel a tug to a simple cozy border

of plants more easily kept in order.

the hair on my head has long since morphed from a carefully blow-dried bob to a thirty second short and out of the way style. clothing has never been a great concern with a uniform of t-shirts and jeans - but shopping has become an even greater aversion since i began my journey to simplicity - the purging of all that is meaningless from my home and my life.

books have always been my safe place, even though i have given away box after box - only holding on to my beloved memoirs and volumes of poetry and spiritual guidance i read over and over. i am looking toward a day when i simplify to a single electronic reader so i can release the shelves of words and paper - but i am not there yet. books have been my best friends since childhood when i sat against a tree in the woods - lost in another time and place until i had to be found for supper. i could more easily release a living breathing friend than my shelves of silent, but always present companions. mary oliver's poetry of lessons learned from nature and the bounty surrounding us if we will only open the door and go outside - the wisdom of kahlil gibran discovered in college and reread many times in my lifetime of seeking - robert frost - emily dickinson - bibles collected over the years - the lives of saints and mother teresa and gandhi - shelves of feng shui books marked through and through from intense study. right now i am not ready to let them go.

the artwork on the walls has long since been outgrown - amish children and garden scenes - soft pinks and greens and blues - not yet replaced because my evolution is still in progress. i want to create stunning batiks - simple images drenched in saturated

color upon color on soft silk.

so what can't i live without? my family, my books for now, the sunshine and fresh breeze through the open windows, the chatter of birds nesting in nearby trees, children's laughter, friendly camaraderie with the people on my path, a warm soft bed, jeans, a couple of t-shirts and a well-made pair of sturdy flip-flops - a pen, a notebook and my endless game of hide and seek with my reading glasses.