Walking Away

In the search for simplification in packing today, I asked my daughter an interesting question.  What would you like to leave behind?
Her answers were interesting and insightful.  She wouldn't mind leaving behind all but her favorite pair of shoes, that one pair she wants to wear every day that I am not so fond of.  She wants to bring home her bike lock and her coloring book, but other than that, she is ready to leave behind all her toys.  The only category I was eager thin that she wouldn't give on was stuffed animals.  So then I asked her which one she would pick if she could only take one.  First it was the baby doll, then it was the purple stuffed dolphin.  She admitted the crocodile could be left.
After some time her zeal for our game faded and she started telling me what she wanted to keep instead.  So I asked her to pick only four things.  After three she was having to search.  My point is that all this time I thought she would be more upset if we didn't bring these various toys and objects home.
In my life, I feel like I have become jumbled up in all these possessions that we acquire over time.  How I wish I could be like my little daughter, ready to drop almost everything at a moment's notice.  I fret over what I should or shouldn't keep, what I might need later, and how I should get rid of things.  Here in Germany there is no Goodwill, and with the novelty of a different culture we have picked up this and that and now have too much to fit in my luggage.  And there is a portion of me that wants to just leave it all behind rather than taking the time to carefully pack it and lug it through the airport.
To be able to gracefully and quickly let go of all but a few things that are useful to who I am today - that is certainly a virtue I would love to rekindle.

On another note, I think have secretly been trying to teach my kids to love things, without noticing it.  Bred out of the simple desire to have my children appreciate their blessings, I find us saying things like, "You better eat up, this is the last time we'll ever get to eat doner."  Do I really think my kids will miss it that much?  Perhaps I encourage in them the very flaws that now haunt me as I try to pack to go back to the states.  The idea that I will be sorry when something is gone, that I will miss it - most often, when I observe my children I find that this is rarely true.  Perhaps a fleeting desire for old things pops up.  I find it to be the worst though when I get rid of something that I don't like but I know they do.  How is that fair?  Of course I would be upset if you took away one of my favorite things.  But I think that for fear of such feelings I often hold onto things that have long since fulfilled their purpose or hold little meaning to me.
There are many reasons we hold onto things, but I hope as I pack I can be a little more like a child and learn to let go without batting an eye.  Because it sure is better to travel with a lighter load.