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 I
read online, “One day, everything you own will either be donated,
sold or thrown away. What stays? The way you lived. The way you
loved. Don’t make life about stuff.”
Wikipedia, “A minimalist is broadly defined as anyone who believes
in or seeks a minimal state or seeks to minimize and reduce
something to its essentials.”
Upjoke, “Gandhi was a well-traveled man…. unfortunately, the
majority of these travels were taken on foot, causing his feet to
build up an incredible amount of hardened skin. To make things
worse, his minimalist diet (and eventually his age) led him to
become very frail. In light of this, he still offered a surplus of
insight through his use of parables. But above all, he was known for
his horrible, horrible breath. So, in other words, I guess that you
could say Gandhi was a Super-Calloused Fragile Mystic Hexed by
Halitosis.”
A maximalist then, of course, is a person who favors abundance,
complexity, and richness.
Actress Mae West, “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.”
Online quote, “The middle ground between minimalism and maximalism
is minimal maximalism. (often called ‘minimax’)” Duh! Bet it took
them a long time to compose that definition.
I guess if I have to be cornered into a label…...and if you know me
well, you know I hate to be categorized…...I’m a maximalist. I love
my things. Can I live without them? Of course! Do I really need
them? Nope. But……. they bring me beautiful memories and comforting
thoughts.
I love my walls adorned with photos of my children and
grandchildren. Those pictures take away my loneliness and bring me
pride of my family and prayers and love flow from my soul. I still
have the little clay ashtrays (no, I’ve never smoked) that my age 50
something boys made me with their tiny hands. Could I toss them and
live through it? Yes. But, I won’t.
The time when I know I’m a maximalist is when I need to travel
somewhere. I have never learned to pack correctly. I want to take my
closet with me. I don’t have a lot of clothes in my closet, but I
want to take them all with me. What if it rains? What if I get cold?
Perhaps the weather will be hot. Definitely I will spill something
on myself and need a clean outfit.
Upjoke, “Why do minimalists, and aspiring minimalist’s, bring
lanterns on their travels? Because they need to know if they’re
packing light.”
I have yet to go on a vacation where some minimalist has not asked
to borrow at least one of the extras that I packed in case of such
an emergency. There is always someone who needs an aspirin, pair of
socks, or an energy bar.
All of you minimalists out there……...were you among the throngs’
stock piling toilet paper during the plague? Do you rush to hoard
bread, milk, and sidewalk salt for an incoming blizzard? We
maximalists realize we live in the state of Illinois and weather
changes instantly. We have reserve of what will be needed…….and yes,
the majority of us will share. You gotta love us for that!
I love the simplicity of rustic furniture. Give me a log cabin in
the woods and straight-lined tables and chairs and I will thrive.
Let me live in a Painted Lady and have bold patterned wallpaper,
humungous wing-backed chairs, cabinets full of fine china and I will
flourish.
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Occasionally I love clutter and other days it makes my teeth itch.
Some days I get into my quilting and will menacingly advise you that
I’m not messy; I’m creative. You would be wise to agree. Mac used to
tell me that the only place housework comes before needlework is in
the dictionary.
The same is true of when I cook/bake/create in the kitchen. My Mac
was wonderful about allowing me to whirl and swirl and do my thing
with joyful abandonment. He was always there to declutter, wipe
down, pick up and taste to his heart’s desire. We were a great team!
How I miss him.
“Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only
so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors. It’s how
you combine them that sets you apart.” Chef Wolfgang Puck
Copilot Search, Mark Twain quotes, “A minimum of sound to a maximum
of sense”. Belief in clear, concise communication and avoiding empty
noise. “It is more trouble to make a maximum than it is to do
right”, suggesting that overcomplicating life with rules or ideals
is less important than taking direct action. “Have a place for
everything and keep the things somewhere else”, his observation of
the futility of rigid organization and the inevitability of
disorder.
“Twain encourages continuous improvement over delayed perfection and
breaking rules when they serve life’s purpose. In short, he favored
purposeful living over pointless accumulation, but also valued
active engagement and exploration.”
My determination after all my scrolling, digging, and researching is
that every one of us is a bit of a minimax. I look around my home
and know exactly what I will give away at some point, what I will
throw away in the future, and what my heart can never let go. My
children can throw their beloved construction paper cards of love to
their momma in the garbage. They are welcome to drop all their
homemade gifts into the trash when the time comes. My prayer is that
they will look at them one more time and remember the occasion, the
holiday, or the reason they gifted me with such a marvelous token of
their little boy love.
Regardless which of the above categories you deem yourself, may you
all have minimalism of nothing but the best of your past and
maximalism of all your dreams for the future.
Goodreads, “Maximalism is not about bad taste and clutter. It is
about a love and affinity for so many different things.”
“Minimalism is not a lack of something. It’s simply the perfect
number of things.”
L. Maxine McQueen
may be contacted at
maxmac.1@juno.com
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