So, I added up how many times, as a post-college adult, I have moved. This May brings the eighth place I will have lived. For a kid who hadn’t moved from birth until 17, this seems like a lot! For my daughter, this will be her 5th address.
As it happened – three of those moves were within a year (a very dark year that we do not like to discuss)! You know how people use the metaphor – “she has a lot of baggage” – this seem to be a literal case in my household. What I am trying to get at, is some of my boxes have been packed and moved multiple times, without ever having been opened. This move is the Big Clean Out of 2012! Every single box, bin, suitcase, trash bag is being opened. One of five things needs to happen – throw-out, put in a “shred box (good lord, I have a crap load of that!), donate to Goodwill, give to a sibling, or pack and mark the contents clearly and with a big “2012” on it.
This little undertaking has brought me to tears (old cards from my aunt), made me laugh (old letters from my friends – remember when we wrote letters?), made me tell my daughter stories that probably should have been left untold (“who are you with in this picture Mom?”), and made me exhausted! But – I know in the end, I will be happy to know what I have, where it is (found two huge boxes of kitchen ware), and feel ready to start the next house!
Through all of this, I have taken a new position within my company and my mom has continued on her cancer battle (radiation and chemo this time – joy!). Major events always happen in clusters – why would I ever expect any different!
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