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Do you have a good values-based story to tell? It doesn’t have to be perfect to make a difference in someone else’s life.

How much is enough?

I left corporate America a little before things fell apart. I felt I needed a break. To think. My kids were almost grown-up, adults. I'd been working for so long. I'd done well. I knew that I could use my time to really make a difference. I took a break. Right before things feel apart. I'd saved up some money, and when my dear grandmother departed at 102 years of age, she left each of us some money she'd saved. My grandmother is gone. My father is gone. My best best friend died of cancer. My children are on their own. I've volunteered. I've made new friends. I've DIY'd every which way. I've cut up wood to burn to keep bills down. I buy most things secondhand, grow what I can in a garden, don't drive as much, read a lot. I've followed my little path. But the most important lesson of all of this is from my father's sister. We spoke of living without an income. How strange it is. What my dear Aunt Marlies said was this: Patti, you must decide for yourself, how much is enough. Hearing this question in your mind is a beginning of a new kind of freedom.

Submitted by Patricia R Handfield