Day 317 - Giveaway Story

Giveaway Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

Mason had many many habits, but he rarely spoke of them. He was worried about being branded as strange or something worse. So he kept it to himself whenever he could.

Every three years or so, Mason gave away his possessions and started over. He had been doing it for close to twelve years. Some of it was a private battle within himself between his desire to consume and his desire to be able to go anywhere and do anything at a moment’s notice. The rest of it stemmed from a particularly messy divorce where many of his possessions had been damaged during fierce argument battles.

Mason would even throw out personal items. If he was going to keep something he had to have an ironclad absolutely good reason to do so. Otherwise it was gone. A very small handful of items had made it through the purges. Cleansing himself of the waste gave him a new clarity on life. He reevaluated himself and his day-to-day habits. He really thought about things and examined his behaviors.

He found it frightening and liberating at the same time. He also felt a great sense of relief. He had found he could live in his car if need be, not that he really wanted to. But he could. He found that without his possessions tying him down, he traveled more and spent more time interacting with people as he had no other source of entertainment. He got out more and did more.

That was the plus side each time. Then slowly he missed things and bought himself back into his traps. That was why the purge had to be repeated every three years or so.

Mason had another game he played. Every time he went somewhere he would look for something that had been his. He left a mark on his items – a stamp or some etching or something that would be recognizable to him. He didn’t want the items anymore, but he was very interested in seeing if he would ever see them again.

It was sort of like a scavenger hunt. He just wanted to see if something could ever come back to him. If it did, then maybe it was something important or linked to him and he should have kept it in the first place. It was like a test of the universe to see if fate would reunite them.

He broke himself into thousands and thousands of pieces and then sent them out all over the world. He wanted other people to benefit from it. But he also wanted to be a part of it. There was a little bit of magic to it – he was making himself a part of the world, a part of other people. If he touched enough people then maybe he could earn something, like a link to all those other people and be a part of something much larger than himself.

Mason liked meeting new people. He liked going to new places and being able to peruse other people’s properties. He always held out hope that he was going to find a little piece of himself there.

The best was when he began dating a new person and would eventually end up at their place. He had always liked seeing when he shared a common interest or appreciation with a date. If they read the same books or listened to the same music then he felt like they were that much closer and possible soulmates. Looking for his former items was even better. Now it wasn’t just a shared appreciation, now it would be her actually already having a little bit of him. Maybe fate was sending him to her and her to him. Maybe they were meant for each other.

He was spread out into the world. He didn’t think it was too much to ask the world to send something back his way.

Mason contemplated a new habit. He wasn’t sure. He always stopped and thought about buying used items whenever he saw someone had written their name on it. Maybe they were doing the same thing he was doing. Maybe they were his kindred spirits. He wasn’t sure. He thought about buying their items and saving them. He thought about seeking them out and returning them. That could be the universe’s plan. That might be his way to meet and connect with whomever he was supposed to meet and connect with. It just wasn’t clear.

Still, he liked to thrift a lot and always paid close attention to the women that were shopping there as well. One of them might very well be his “one.”