The Family Game

Who doesn’t recall the old television series “Kung-Fu” with David Carradine? As a child, I often imagined that I was Kwai Chang Caine a.k.a. “Grasshopper” as he wandered the Wild West in search of his kin folk with only a knapsack and a flute. How about “MacGyver” who ALWAYS travelled light which forced him to make the most of the pocket items at his disposal. AND he lived on a sweet float house!

Was Grasshopper a practicing minimalist by carrying only a knapsack and a flute or just a victim of abject poverty? Or what about MacGyver… I mean, who turns a bad guy’s assault rifle into a makeshift less-than-lethal weapon when national security is at stake?

These shows, and others like them, helped my Dad devise a family game that we would often play during cross-country car-camping family vacations. The game didn’t even have a name, but it normally started off like, “if you could only bring one gun on ‘X’ adventure (or hunt, or secret mission), what would it be?” Other times it might be, “if you had to carry everything you owned in one backpack under 60-lbs, what would you bring?” The game would ALWAYS spark a plethora of additional questions such as the state of the world (present day, post-apocalypse, zombies, etc.), or the environment (mountains, desert, ocean, etc.), or other conditions (stuff I own already, unlimited funds, scavenging, etc.). The game was a blast, got the entire family involved, and generated all sorts of thought provoking conversation.

As I grew older and moved out on my own, I kept running lists of “things” I wanted to buy. To be honest, I did the same thing as a kid and was always ear-marking pages in hunting and fishing magazines or the Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs. And I’ll be the first one to admit, I have quite a few browser favorites of my most recent “must haves” as well. But over the past 20 years, I found myself purchasing “things” I felt would bring joy or add value to my life. Few things have done that… Jeeps, motorcycles, maybe a backpack or hiking boots; but those items allowed to got me out of the house and exploring the world.

Honestly, I could have probably explored the same highways, byways, trails and wilderness with “less” of the same items… Thankfully, the “family game” turned me into a very detail-oriented comparison shopper. I drive the same Jeep Cherokee SE that I drove new off the lot in 1997… I’ll never part from it. I replaced my totaled 2009 Harley Davidson Road King with a 2015 Harley Davidson Road Glide… I’ll never part from it. I have another Jeep and another motorcycle that I will part from within the year.

About a year ago, I owned two motorcycles, two Jeeps, a BMW SUV and even a Suzuki Samurai. Everything was paid off, but I still felt enslaved by things! Once I started selling vehicles I literally experienced a “high” by watching the new owners drive away.

I did the same thing with clothing… I gutted my closets, under-bed storage organizer, garage, etc. I bagged everything up and dropped it all off at Goodwill, there was the “high” again. The funny thing about clothes is that you can do a closet purge about once per month… for six months straight, and still have plenty of clothing options. But it is so fun… it turns out that the “high” I was experiencing was merely relief from the pressure of owning, or being owned by, my “things.”

What wouldn’t a person give just to get back a little control in their own hectic life? Well, each of us have the power to do just that. Think of something as simple as donating a few bags of clothing, you’d immediately cut down on potentially a few bags worth of laundry!