Madonna’s 80s song and video Material Girl are the first material-related thoughts I had when I read Linda’s Stream of Consciousness prompt for today. I dismissed using that song, because I’m not all that crazy about it, plus it doesn’t match my personality.
I did, however, contemplate what being materialistic means to me. I decided materialistic means owning things for the sake of having more stuff than someone else, along with having the disposable money to keep buying more of those things.
I don’t mean this in a hoarding sense. I mean it in the way a friend of mine told me many years ago not long after she’d married a man for his with money: “I just bought a bread machine, programmable slow cooker, and a heavy duty stand mixer. Now I have all the major appliances.”
I looked around my middle class kitchen to check if I possessed all the major appliances according to her standards, and I came up short. I didn’t have any of those. Neither did I rush out and purchase them, although I do currently own a refurbished bread machine, a non-programmable slow cooker, and a Dollar Store hand mixer.
Anyway, that train of thought led me to ABBA’s song Money, Money, Money. I watched the ‘official’ video…
which then sent me barreling along another train-of-thought-track that the singing mouth/lips in the ABBA video reminded me of the singing mouth/lips in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
which made me realize I’d completely lost focus for today’s Stream of Consciousness prompt.
So…
I’ll wrap this up with saying I am not a material girl. I have a small (paid for) house that was built in 1942. I don’t have a garage or carport. I have a fenced yard for my cats and dogs. I drive a 2010 Malibu with 140,000 miles and massive hail damage (see note about no garage/car port). I have a comfortable bit of savings and an adequate, but modest, monthly retirement check. I get to write romance novels and grow flowers.
Everyone in my immediate family is employed or attending school or happy-toddler-aged, healthy, and making their individual ways in life without too much life-stress. I’m healthy and content. I can’t think of a single materialistic thing I want or need that would make my life more fulfilled than it already is. I’m satisfied with what I have, which is just enough.
Until we meet again,
Great post and a popular song this week 💜💜