Colgate's Octagon Soap

Yesterday Eddie and I and a cousin of mine went to visit another cousin (I have lots and lots of cousins!). We had a wonderful time at her house reminiscing and looking at old pictures. While we were there, I noticed that she had a wrapped bar of Colgate's Octagon Soap on her kitchen windowsill. I commented on it and she said that our grandmother used to use it in her laundry and to wash dishes and that she (my cousin) now uses it all the time. She said she liked it better than regular anti-bacterial soap. I asked her where she found it and she said Shop Rite. She said that she had not been able to find it anyplace else lately. I mentioned that I would have to look for some, and she gave me a bar. I also put my bar on my windowsill, but I would like to find some more to actually use.

We were so much in the past, looking at pictures and being nolstagic and thinking about how things were when we were younger, thinking about our mothers and grandmothers and things they used to do. I was just intrigued with the story about my grandmother using Octagon Soap to do her dishes and laundry. I think my cousin said her mother-in-law used to shave the Octagon Soap into her laundry. It just reminded me of how simple things were back then. Not quite so complicated as these days. I'm sure there were things that were more complicated, but for me the desire is there to go back to the simple, uncomplicated life. A slower pace. I don't know if it's getting older that's making me feel this way, but Eddie and I were talking the other day about how hectic life has become and our desire to slow things down a bit and go back to a simpler way of living. Simplifying our life, for us, means going through some things and stuff that we just don't really need and don't use anymore. Just excess baggage that is really not necessary. This weekend we are beginning the process of cleaning out and getting rid of, whatever you want to call it, things that are just taking up space and have no use for us. We are both longing for an uncluttered way of life and right now we don't have that. We're not even close. It's going to be a long, hard road to go through all this stuff. I hope we can get things cleaned out and organized before it gets too much colder. At least, maybe we can get a start.