The title of this blog post is in quotes because it is also the title of one of The Minimalists’ book “Everything That Remains”. I’m using this title to talk about all the stuff and feelings that remained after a minor flood at my in-laws.

The summer of 2018 in Northern Europe had been AMAZING! Since the beginning of May, hot, dry days were a constant pretty much until August. Watering systems were having problems, and agriculture was one of its victims. However, in August, the rain started to pour down like crazy, and there were several flood incidents (at least in Denmark).

As you may know, me and my little family have been moving a lot from country to country, from rental place to rental place, so we rely on family to store some stuff. Not much, but some stuff that is dear to us. So when the stormy winds and heavy rain hit Denmark in mid-August, our cardboard boxes of stuff being kept in my in-laws’ garage were pretty much going to get damaged… and they did.

In those boxes we had books, wedding gifts, Christmas decorations, etc. We also had a box of little L’s first clothes, but those were in a plastic box. Yes, I know it’s plastic, but, in this specific case, I’m glad it was plastic. The rest of the stuff in cardboard boxes was damaged by all the water. The good news is that I don’t care that much. It literally is just stuff! Stuff that can be either fixed or replaced, or, perhaps even better - for us , definitely not better for the environment!) - thrown away. It’s so freeing to know I have less material stuff to think about - that “excess baggage” that was weighing me down. Of course a minor flood is not the best way to get rid of things, but since it was just stuff that did not bring joy to my life, then I’m actually happy they’re gone (I’m definitely not happy the flood happened, of course). Also, if little L’s first clothes were to be amongst the stuff that is now gone, that would be a very different story. I would be devastated.

I now can say we have downsized quite a lot and I am happy at the level of stuff we have, but I will keep trying to improve - children’s toys, anyone? Stuff will always be stuff, and it shouldn’t be given any more importance that what it deserves - practically none! Everything that remains is what REALLY matters! People matter! Moments matter!

So I’ll end this with a quote from The Minimalists: “Love people. Use things. The opposite never works.” You can get wallpapers here. Guess what, they’re pretty minimal!

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“Everything that remains”