Good News, Bad News, Better News

Today I gave away five wind chimes.

I’m keeping four. Four. Does four wind chimes sound excessive......?

I had nine wind chimes up along the west and north eves of my house. It’s one of my favorite sounds: the wind and the chimes mingling, singing in twelve-part harmony. But nine was WAY too many.

I started off with one, years ago. Then my family, knowing how much I love them, added to the collection in varying forms of quality and kitsch. This morning, I gathered them up and spread them across the dining room table. I cleaned and polished until they were as shining as they could be after so many years. I repaired the stained glass wind catcher (the name of that piece that swings at the bottom of a wind chime to catch the wind) that had fallen off of my favorite one. I threw out one set that was too weather worn to keep or give away. I packed up four of the least melodic into the Thrift Store bag.

The four best ones are going back up later today or tomorrow. Four wind chimes. Does that sound like too many? It must or I wouldn’t be answering the question. But I selected the Final Four very carefully and systematically. For their durability, their eye-appeal, their voice and range. I have one in the deeper tenor register. I have two typical middle-of-the-road toned chimes but that are so pretty and well-made: beautiful pewter and stained glass. The last is a delicate light-hearted chime that sounds like Tinkerbell flitting just outside my window.

Sound reasoning, yes? Solid argument? Four wind chimes? Not so bad, right?

(Okay, PAY ATTENTION.... this is where I could use some audience participation. I am going to need your help in this area. When you hear me justifying the items I want to keep, call me out, scold me. If I am feeling the need to justify anything to an unseen, perhaps non-existent blog reading audience, this is a very bad sign and I’m kidding myself. Let’s call it Clutter Denial. The items I keep and I am at genuine peace with, require no justification of any sort, to you or anyone else. The compulsion to make excuses will not occur when the decision is true and good for me. I will simply own my decision with the right things and all the ‘talk’ is a spin job to rationalize keeping the crap. Please point this out to me when you see it. You even have my permission to laugh as you point. There may be a pop quiz on this point later.)

So after writing here, I went back. Selected the most colorful one of the four 'keepers' and am sending it to my kids to hang outside my new grandson's nursery window. In the end, I'm keeping three of nine. This feels much better. I got rid of 2/3's of my wind chimes today.

April 15, 2010 ~ Besides the Great Wind Chime Massacre and other things, today I chucked out: 2 Zip Lock bags full of beads and old jewelry, Easter decorations, more candles and a dusty dark red vase.