As I simplify my life — throwing away, giving away, selling the extraneous — preparing for an offEarth trip, I briefly contemplate the past, recalling memories tied to inanimate objects.

With the objects out of my life there is less chance that the memories tied to them will resurface.

I won’t look at the dashboard of the 1962 Dodge Lancer anymore, remembering when my father drove the car across the local mountain and worriedly asked me if the brakes were going to work long enough for us to safely get to the bottom (my father’s fear of heights was triggered by the sheer dropoff that only a guardrail prevented a car out of control careening over).

The ATV/lawnmower trailer holds few precious memories for me.  I bought it from a man who needed money to move to his new job in Michigan, buying a lawnmower and trailer from him.  I sold the mower months ago and cut apart the rotting trailer this morning.

What is next in my life?

Do I write about it now or live it first and recall it in some nostalgic moment in the future?

I shall continue to write about life on Mars and other activities in the Inner Solar System many, many sols from now, over 100 marsyears in the future.

I shall write less about life in the here-and-now or in the next few Earth years.

I have dropped writing thank you notes to restaurant workers in this blog.

Let my interaction with them in the moment speak for itself.  I’ll leave the thank you notes to my friend, Julia the Thanksgiving Girl.

Part of simplifying my life is thinking less about how I’m going to write about it.

Enuf sed.

Back to Mars!