Packing!
Drastically downsizing.
We’re moving from a 2150 sq. ft.
colonial into a 600 sq. ft. in-law apartment. (Tiny house.) That’s like fitting
a double decker tour bus full of friends and family into a Smart Car. I’ve
been going through stuff I haven’t gone through in decades. It’s heartwarming
and heartbreaking at the same time. It’s freeing and yet the constraints of living
with little to no space is frustrating. I might add though that the idea is
very welcome.
Because of the many fires and
floods this year across our country a lot of families have lost entire
households of precious memorabilia as well as their day to day stuff. They didn’t
have time to choose. The only choice they had was to save the ultimate, their
lives.
I’m lucky because I’m making the
choices of what stays and what goes. The choices have been relatively easy
because almost all is going. The photos
stay but the “things” used by the people I have lost are on the way out. I’ve
had time to explore the memories attached to each object and say a sweet
goodbye to what once was. There have been emotional moments, like when my
mother’s favorite blue bowl and vases which graced the center of our dining
room table, sold at our yard sale. Sad to see it go but glad someone else would
love and use them. I’ve come to believe that what we store away because of attachment
should not be shut away but set free and shared.
Because our new in-law apartment
is being built we have a couple of more months of living on the sidelines of a
settled life. And until then, I have started writing again. (The novel is still in the works.) I have finally
found a small spot in my daughter’s home (which was once ours) to claim as a
space in which to write.
So hello. I’m here and counting
down the days to resettlement. Actually
it’s kind of fun living in the guest room which my husband and I call our dorm
room. From that double-decker bus to a smart car we are traveling an alternate
route to a lighter and less stressful life. Now if I could just remember where
my bathing suit is.