Keep It Simple

After a year in recovery, I decided to leave my marital home and divorce my spouse. I was fortunate to be in a very good financial position, so many options were open to me. I obsessed about those options, particularly where to move to find the perfect, larger new home. Questions raced through my thoughts: “What school district should I live in? How much square footage would be adequate? Could I really live without a fireplace? How much larger would I need my kitchen to be?”

After I thought I had it all figured out, I approached my then three-year-old son and asked him how he would feel about us moving to a nice, big, new house. He looked at me and replied, “Mom, will the ice cream truck still come there?” His innocent question abruptly brought me back to reality and reminded me to “Keep it Simple” – things didn’t have to be big or breathtaking to be wonderful. I was humbled, and I let go of my obsession over “bigger and better.”

So often my Higher Power speaks to me through the mouths of my children. S-Anon is teaching me to be still enough to listen.

Reprinted from S-Anon’s Reflections of Hope, page 282.