More or less

Retirement has caused a seismic shift in amounts of things in my life. I have many fewer pairs of shoes and pounds less of clothing. Last year, I gave away a great deal of my business attire to Dress for Success and to my niece (mother of grandniece, whose birth made me a great-aunt, see last LiamLicks) I held on to some for the second winter of retirement, thinking I might wear some; no, I did not, so I gave up the rest to a number of charitable organizations. I must have been prescient in saving all, of my many cardigans. How did I know Michelle O would make them acceptable for dress wear? Now I need to shop in my closet for bottoms (meaning skirts , pants.)

The shoes and boots I had accumulated and wore to work no longer have a place in my retirement life, so they all went last week, leaving spaces in my shoe compartments. I am so popular with Charities that they compete for my business. How do I know? They give me two -three bags for packing while my neighbors get one. They send e-mails. They text. They call. Dress for Success invited me to speak at their annual dinner. I declined, but did want to spy on the recipients of all my clothes when they donned them for their first day on the job. Imagine folks working in my clothes. All my suits had a story of what I had done and achieved while in them and now they were out in the world at new jobs adopted by new workers. Thrilling for a Leo personality!

Less - jewelry- no more frequenting vendor sales in the lobby at work- jewelry tree has spaces.

More-the recycles amounts are huge I now discard all recycles at home- soup cans, Starbucks plastic, ice tea bottles, weight watcher dinner trays, water bottles, wine bottles ( they would always have been from home) I also read several newspapers a day So these add to the paper goods to be discarded.

Less-fewer books from Barnes and Noble.

More-borrowed books from the Hillside Library.

Less-My dry cleaning is non-existent. I had not been to Chen brothers for a year when I went last week to repair a dress Liam had ripped with a joyful greeting During my working years I had a friendly relationship with the Chen family, When I retired they even said that they would miss my clothes as I had good taste and my suits were so perfect (thanks J. Crew). I feared Mr. Chen would not even remember me. A year had passed. He did remember. When I picked up my repaired dress, I brought him a gown to clean. I want to keep the relationship going. Two submissions per year should grow his business substantially.

More -laundry, I have added pounds of clothes to be washed. I wash, Paul folds. Everything is folded while Paul watches sports and placed in piles in the living room to be carried upstairs. Mostly all I now wear is washable, no more dry cleaning. Liam is always in the midst of all folded clothes

Less-My eyebrows are smaller and lighter. They had been getting that way for a while. See progression from growing
1952

1968 (Susan Boyle-like)
2005
Eyebrows are back-eyebrow pencil-see 2008

Less- undergarments- Liam has found and accessed the drawer full of intimate apparel.

More Uggs they have replaced all other shoes and boots for winter.

More Liam. the little pup has grown to maturity, about 15-18 pounds at adoption Now a full grown lad of 32.4, but not tall still gets mistaken for a puppy at 15 inches high.

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Is all this the concept of yin yang ?
yin and yang- complimentary opposites within a greater whole seemingly disjunct or opposing forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, giving rise to the other in turn (from wikipedia.) Everything has both yin and yang aspects, which constantly interact, never existing in absolute stasis.

or is it simply about change, looking at life in different ways,
from different perspectives
and different positions exploring

more or less.

Woof, woof