Five Things You Can't Live Without

I was reading the local paper this afternoon. It has one of those My Two Cents columns, where the roving photographer goes out and about town and asks some question to people at large. This week's question was 'What are five things you can't live without?" They asked three adults and one child. The adults all said assorted things about God, family, food, shelter.... fine answers. But the answer that really touched me was from an eight year old boy named Andrew. He answered "My brother, water, food, air, and a home."

His brother. Not only did he think he couldn't live without his brother, but his brother was the FIRST thing he thought of, before any of those other things. Isn't that just the sweetest response!? Sniff. I might have to go dig out my old Neil Diamond album. "The road is long, with many a winding curve....."

So, what are the five things you can't live without? To make this more interesting, I suppose we'll assume everyone has food, shelter, clothing, heat, and love. Does that cover the basics of survival?

#1 - The first thing I thought of was books. I would have a hard time living without books.

#2 - I was going to include my computer, but I think I could live without it quite happily, surprisingly. I might not like living without it, but I could. And I say happily because the time I spend on my computer would probably be used in some alternative creative or satisfying pursuits. So instead, for number two I'll say I couldn't live without something to use for writing, even if it was a simple pad of paper and pencil. Something.

#3 - My family. I suppose this could be the same as "love", but still, they're too important to leave out. I'm including everyone - hubby, kids, grandkids, family friends, pets...

#4 - Soil. I love to garden, so hopefully, large quantities of it. But even if I lived in the city, I'd need a couple of flower pots to dig about in and a park nearby so I could lay in the grass or hear the sound of the wind in the trees.

#5 - Good food. By this I mean fresh produce, whole grains, green herbs. I can live on fast or prepared foods, but after awhile, it depresses me not to have real food, food that still seems to have an "aliveness" to it.

Interesting what I didn't include, eh? I didn't include any of my sewing or crafting stuff. Not that I don't love it, but if I had to have only one creative outlet, I guess writing wins out. I didn't mention my bed, my coffee, my car, my music, electricity..... granted I WANT all those things, but the question was 'what can't you live without'. But if I had to prioritize, I'd simply pick all those things over the convenience of turning on a lightbulb or sipping on a latte.