Up Close and Far Away

There have been two baskets in our basement that have become the dumping ground for toys that aren't quite finished, but are broken to a degree. Binoculars with a broken strap, butterfly nets with tears in them. Plastic pieces that we know go to something around here, but where or what is still a mystery. These baskets have cluttered a piece of my mind since their existence last March when a ton was moved down to the basement in order to make room for our lovely wood floors and yet, it didn't feel like clutter until last weekend when I emptied them.

The slow process of purging, purging, and emptying the house has been an unexpected benefit of this new adventure. Seeing the corners lose their stuff and baskets lay empty has freed my mind in a way that feels like a tense muscle relaxing when you didn't realize you'd been holding it so.

This trip, this lifestyle and freedom seems so close when you look at the calendar, and at the same time so far away. How will the house be completely empty in month? How will I possibly occupy the days when we are living with my parents and need to skidaddle to let my dad and Chris get work done (the two work from home, and soon, from their home). When do we start making reservations at campgrounds? But wait, isn't that what I always do...plan and create timelines when I really do not want timelines and expectations? Every weekend seems to be filled between now and June 23rd, complete with two trips, but at the same time we need to get this clutter out. And so it has started. Eleven bags have found their ways to donation places. Bins have been brought to Childish Things. Trash cans have been filled and filled again. We have a "free" table that sits in front of our house and a makeshift assemblage of stuff that will be garage saled. And the house still seems full. How much stuff do we have?

Piece by piece we are going through our lives and figuring out what is worth keeping. Our house is slowly being compressed to items that hold value instead of just place. So far Chris, the boys and the pups are still on the list :)