It is crisp and cold this winter morning. I make my way up the steps and into the store.

My beautiful friend greets me with a smile from behind the counter. She is warm and understanding. We chat for a bit and then her father joins us. He also offers kindness and compassion. I am here to part with something that once had great value to me. They know this and they do everything in their power to put me at ease.

However, I am still dogged by the unpleasant task before me. The humbling and somewhat humiliating effects of the financial dissolution of divorce. The places you find yourself in that you never, once in your wildest dreams imagined.

My friend’s father has an open and spoken heart.

“If you are in a hot air balloon in the worst of storms and being tossed about,” He says. “You must throw everything in the basket out in order for the balloon to rise. It is no matter the value of those possessions. You have to let go to save yourself.”

I listen intently. I have never had a strong attachment to most things; however, I am forever and devotedly sentimental. While I will toss away a million possessions without a thought, it is difficult for me to part with things that I have a memory or person attached to.

“You have to let it all go,” He says. “You will not see how big you are without doing so. It needs to be just you in that balloon rising. The past needs to be left behind to take you where you need to go.”

I hug them both goodbye. I turn towards the door to leave.

I feel lighter already.

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