What happens when you become a mother, leave the work force, and no longer find dressing up fun? You get rid of your shoes. And your suits. And your dresses. Only to realize that really, you just need one good, long black dress and a strappy pair of black heals. One is really all you need.

Years ago, maybe a dozen or more years long past, my husband and I backpacked around the world for a year. Do you know what’s interesting? I came back with 2 or three things I never even used. I carried these items with me to over 20 countries, on trains, planes, boats, buses, and countless walks for a “just in case” moment that never occurred. And so I wonder, how many “just in case” moments are we waiting for in life? How much should we prepare for these moments, saving and storing, collecting and hoarding?

Most recently, I have found that I do in fact collect things. I collect time. With two children and time that is most often no longer mine to savor, I hoard time. I don’t make plans with others unless I really want to give my time away. I don’t do anything extra that requires the stealing of my time. I have become possessive and greedy of my time and feel unabashedly guilt-free about this for the first time in my life. But time is not something one can stockpile. You cannot store it up or save it to be used another day. Time is different. It must be used at once. And once it’s used, it’s gone forever. Until the next moment. When I hoard it once again, but only for that moment.