And a thought on how to live a more fragrant life

I found a surprise in my purse today.  I was about do some training at one of our school campus libraries and I really didn't know anyone.  Out of sheer boredom I started searching my purse, unzipping each compartment taking inventory.  As I unzipped the front right pocket a pair of women's khaki socks peeked out.

I'd like to say they were fresh, new socks but that would be a lie. To fill you in on how the socks came to be there, we'd have to go back to the first week of March.

I had flown to Seattle to serve as a reinforcement to help my sweet sis-n-law who had been getting treatment for an illness.  I don't typically wear socks (I've mentioned before, I'm a flip-flop girl.)

But Ann had warned me that it would be cold.  So I packed the few pair of socks I owned. The first few days I was there I wore the khaki socks around Ann's house.

Saturday morning Ann's family had graciously offered to take me to see the sights.  As everyone was getting in the car I noticed my well-worn khaki socks were sliding down to my ankles beneath my boots. Unwilling to suffer sock discomfort I raced inside to get an extra pair of socks which I changed in the car.  Where else to place the down-sliding socks except for in my purse?

In addition to gently-used, slightly odorous socks which are still in my purse this very moment, I have other stink in my life.  There are those things, in all of our lives I suppose, which are malodorous, unprofitable and cumbersome, yet we carry those things around.Seems like craziness, but here are some reasons...

Why I Hold on to the Stink:

1. I forget about it. I hate it when my kids use this excuse, but sometimes I just forget.  I forgot the socks were in my purse.

2. I'm going to take care of it later.  I actually found the socks a couple of weeks ago in my purse.  I was probably somewhere public when I found them and told myself I would take them out later......  But they're still there.

3.I'm oblivious. I've had stink in my life that I've been completely unaware of.  Then my daughter tells me I need therapy to help me with my "freaking out".  That's stink that I didn't even smell.  No telling what stink I have in my life right now that I don't even know about.

4. We're Hoarders. Don't tell me you haven't seen the show. We probably all suffer from a degree of some type of accumulation syndrome; maybe it's stuff in your purse or maybe you hold on to worry.

5.Sometimes stink doesn't stink to me at all. Let me explain.  Socks pretty much always stink, but there's some kinds of stink that, strangely, we like.  I like having new things; I especially like new shirts.  I can't go into Target without looking in the clothes section.  Having a persistent desire for "things" and thinking those things fill me.... is stink.  But I like it.

I carry with me a lot of stuff;  unnecessary stuff, burdensome stuff. What if I took the time every day to do a little searching for that which I need to rid myself of?  -Maybe a little listening to those who love me or the one who knows me best? "You don't need that", they'd say.  I wonder if my daily offering might be a little more fragrant....without the stink.

(Attention Mom.  The khaki socks are yours.  I borrowed them at Christmas.  So I not only have a problem holding on to my things that I don't need.  I also have a problem holding on to other people's things.  But that's for another post...)