From rationing to releasing

For the last 12 months, we have been rationing our resources. You name it, we have conserved it, apportioned it, and allotted it: from Skippy peanut butter, to Earl Gray tea, to cheddar cheese, to dark chocolate. From Crayola markers to Ticonderoga pencils to embroidery thread to temporary tattoos. From shrinky-dinks to jigsaw puzzles to body wash.  From maple syrup to soy sauce to Scotch tape.

I am the chief control freak on this project, and I am afraid I have passed some of my neuroticism onto my kiddos. The thing is every little thing feels more precious when it is not readily replaceable, when Amazon Prime is a pipe dream, when the nearest Target is 5000 miles away. The truth is, everything IS more precious.

And yet, now we find ourselves, at the tail end of this journey, and it is time to let go. 

It is an admittedly sharp turnabout to go from rationing to releasing. 

It is time to bake another big batch of chocolate chip cookies and use up that chocolate.
Time to smear as much peanut butter on the mora toast as is humanly possible.
Time to use as much Henna paste as desired.
Time to gift markers and crayons and leftover drawing paper.
Time to distribute games and craft supplies and Legos.
Almost time to pack up those very few material items we actually want to keep possession of -- the beloved stuffies, the artisan items we have picked up along the way, the few games that were not embraced here. . .

And let the rest go. 



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