The Empty Shelf

Manifest plainess

Embrace simplicity

Reduce selfishness

Have few desires

Lao-Tzu

Over the holidays, I called my brothers who live far away
from my seaside home

They are both quite a bit older than I am- both retired

One lives in the middle of a desert

 and the other on the top of a mountain

The California kid sister calls and chatters on about her teaching jobs, her book contracts

and her all around busy-ness

They listen patiently and are even interested

because that is how we were brought up,

 but I can tell they were quietly drumming their fingers

 wanting to return to what they were doing before the call

And what they were doing was 

living

Without the tether of a iPad, Daytimer,
or a steady assault of "Action Required" emails that make up my day

They were living.
Plain and simple

As usual, my brothers were ahead of me

They have traded the busyness of life

for the business of living

I am not ready to retire- the fact is I probably never will be

But I am ready to make some room for living

I have a friend who keeps an empty shelf on every one of her bookcases as a reminder

To leave room for new learning

 a space in which to breathe

Today, I am clearing off a shelf in my mind

Today, I am making  room for living

Thanks, Bros

I am still learning so much from you both 

and that's poetiquejustis

  I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:10