That Touch of Mink
“Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.” Frank Lloyd Wright, US Architect and designer, quoted in his obituary,
Luxury is, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Today, a group of middle aged women gathered around a pattern table at a fabric store, strangers all sharing delight over patterns of 1940s style hats.
In a Salvation Army thrift store, a man stops everyone in their tracks by admiring a red velvet chaise lounge, soft, cushy, very red. “I could sure use that on a pier. I could lay down, put my reel in the water and fish in comfort,” he suddenly says aloud. His view opens the floodgates of shoppers’ imaginations. A woman holding a stack of books sighed and says softly, “I’d lay on it and read.” When the man turned to her and said, “Yes, that’s right. Read,” she adds softly, “I’d put a soft afghan on it and pull it up to my chin and read all day.” Another woman looks at the tomato colored lounge and adds, “It would be a good place to nurse a baby, with the sun coming in through the window.”
Architect Henry Toombs of Atlanta, age 62, after a long illustrious career (He built Eleanor Roosevelt’s cottage at Warm Springs, Georgia among other projects), decided to learn to sculpt. He went to Italy and studied for a year. When he came back, he built a foundry and hired an apprentice. Before he died, he sculpted a life sized statue of a nude pregnant young woman. His idea of luxury was the same as that of Leontyne Price, a famous opera star. He wanted a bit of time to do whatever he wanted to do.
Sleep can be a luxury as can fresh fruit or one flower. It can be a rare print or an inexpensive poster. A friend who is not rich feels rich because she was able to buy a $20.00 reprint of “Two Lovers” by Chagall online. She had one like it as a child.
Thomas Jefferson once said, “I cannot live without books.”
For me, walking on a deserted beach is the height of luxury; the seashells I find there are more precious to me than diamonds; beach glass more desirable than emeralds. I hold them in my hands and feel like I am holding bits of eternity. To each our own.
Meditation for the Day
All our days are filled with bits of luxuries; we only have to look to see them.
Action for the Day
Today, I won’t regret what I don’t have; I’ll celebrate small luxuries I find along the way.
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