How Much is Too Much?

On a recent trip to Edmonton, the woman ahead of me in the airport check-in line glanced at me and then spun around with an "Oh My God!"

And I thought, what? Is my zipper down? Did I wear underwear? What could possibly have caused such a reaction.

"Is that all you have?" she asks next with disbelief riding in the furrows between her brows. With suitcases sprawled around her and her companion, our line-up mate was a little overwhelmed by my lack of luggage. Of course, what she also didn't know was that, for me, this was only an overnight trip.

Still, the whole thing brought up the question, in travel and in life - how much is too much? Are you overwhelmed with stuff and, like me, do you struggle to clear yourself of a rumble of memories from family photos to treasures of childhood. When and what do you pitch? And where do you draw a line. For me, it's vacation. I'm there to enjoy, not to haul an overweight samsonite across downy sand beaches. And at home, same thing. How many Christmas pictures do I need when each is indiscernible from the year that preceded it and the only clarity is when a decade or two has elapsed?

How much is too much?

Ryshia