Purging

We moved another large load of belongings last night.

I'd read this blog post earlier in the day, and, in combination with things I was already thinking about, as I moved items from the basement of our current home, to the living room of our new home, I stared at the piles of belongings and made a decision. I informed my roommate that I was going to unpack a bit more slowly this time, and really go through the things in the boxes.

I'm feeling a need to purge. To simplify. To create space and newness.

There are things I've rarely used, and I think I'm ready to let some of them go finally. Some of them have moved twice or three times with me, and hardly been touched in between the moves.

There are things that are old friends. Books and such like. Those won't be purged, but will be handled lovingly. The many, many "reminder" stones that have rested on my various shelves won't be purged either, but carefully displayed in a way that they do indeed serve their purposes.

But there are definitely other things that can go.

Because of the health problems I've had this year, I've lost a significant amount of weight. I want badly to go through my closet and purge the items I rarely wear, or the items that just don't quite fit. L and I talked yesterday about considering the questions (for those items that are perhaps slightly too large now) "would I wear this if it fit?" or "do I love this?" If the answer is yes, then I'll keep the item, and possibly even see if I can get it altered. If the answer is no, it's going to the thrift store for someone else to enjoy.

There are clothes, too, that I've kept for a specific purpose. "I wear that camping." Let's talk about the fact that I haven't been camping in at least five years. Or that I generally hate camping - it wouldn't be my idea of a good time. Or that I have absolutely no plans to be anywhere that will require me to sleep on the ground in a tent anytime in the next year either. I think that "camping" clothing can probably go.

I think it likely that for a while, our living room will have piles for the garbage, for recycling, and for transport to goodwill.

My bedroom is probably 90% packed.

When I get home tonight, before heading over to my parents' house for my dad's birthday celebrations, the plan is to pack an overnight bag. This is key to my survival for the next few days. There are a few items (some medications, a piece of jewelry I wear almost daily, and value highly, my journal, Nellie the bear, and others) that I absolutely must be able to locate tomorrow night to be comfortable and to rest in our new home.

After the birthday party, we need to pack our kitchen. Friends and family will start arriving to help us move the last boxes and belongings around 9:30 tomorrow morning. I'm hoping that the moving of belongings will be done by around 2:00 tomorrow afternoon, giving me several hours to do some basic unpacking and settling in before I head out to church.

The blog will likely be quite a bit quieter than normal until after July 1st. Once we've moved, I won't have internet access in my house until late in the day on the 1st. I may try to schedule some posts to go up on the days when I won't have access, but it all depends on how busy my day today is. I may also be paying visits to Starbucks in the evenings once or twice, to access email and so forth there.

Thankfully, I managed to sleep for several hours last night, relatively peacefully. I'm not feeling the panic I was feeling about all of this earlier in the week, just the pressing knowledge of much to do. And I really can't explain just how much of a relief that that shift is. Thank you to those who've been praying this week. It's helping.

And now, on into the day...