The chaos has begun

The house looks like a tornado hit it and my inner turmoil matches it.  Initially, this house was a four bedroom, but we took out the closet in the back room and made it a den/work-space and it has served us well over the years.  Realtor said put the closet back in and remove the sailboat border – too personal.  The room now sits empty waiting for new paint, rug and closet to be put back in.

When the kids left, they didn’t take all of their belongings.  Emptying out their closets have been the hardest.  Opening boxes only to have a flood of memories hit like a ton of bricks.  Old recital tutu’s, Girl Scouts vest filled with badges, christening clothes and a host of trinkets.  Each reminding me of how I wish I could have kept them small and thinking where has the time gone.

My daughter is extremely practical as each time I call to say, “Do you want this” or snap a picture to show her the item her reply never changes – GET RID OF IT. On the other hand my son, being the more sentimental one, wants to go through his stuff.  Problem is we have a time schedule and he is a procrastinator.

I guess if you were the type of person to clean out your house and donate it all without ever looking back this wouldn’t be such an ordeal.  Unfortunately, that’s not me!  I am the person who can tell you who gave me what, for which occasion it was given and even if I wasn’t crazy about it kept it anyway because someone special gave it to me.

They tell you to make piles – trash, donate, sell and keep.  The challenge is to reduce my keep pile.  Easier said than done.  All money received from sales goes into a camping fee envelope.  We want to see how many days of camping fees we will get when all is said and done.

It’s been said many times by those who have gone through this and are now on the road full time -it was a freeing and uplifting experience to rid oneself of all the baggage.

My take at this moment in time – doubtful, but only time will tell.