Chronicles of the Mass Exodus: Episode 4: Pack Rats

How do you get rid of 28 years worth of junk? How do you decide what will go with you thousands of miles away? How do you leave behind 55 years worth of memories? What will fit in the PODS moving box? These are the questions that I think about on a regular basis each and every day.

When we got back from LCNM, we spent a Saturday morning developing our plan of attack. There were realtor questions and retirement questions and moving questions and all sort of talk like that. For the past year, we have spent some good time going through stuff. Tossing some, sending some off to Uncle Sal’s (Salvation Army) and storing some for our eventual move and for our kids. We did a lot but there is so, so much more to do. You know, miles to go before we sleep meme.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

It will get done, it has to, but the memories run strong. We started to go thru boxes of photos, dividing them into smaller boxes – those to keep, those to throw away, those to give to others, those to scrapbook. We worked separately then compared piles. I took lots out of the DW’s toss pile. She plucked most out of my discard box. We tried to be quick about what we were doing but kept stopping. “Do you remember this? Who is that? Would our kids want this one?” Even the mostly blurry were scrutinized for a while. Should it stay or should it go. Melancholy yes but filled with memories too.

We have boxes of New Englandy / Country accents that we have collected thru the years. They really do not fit in a southwest style home but that doesn’t make the thought process or decision making any easier. Same goes for our “fancy” dishes and stoneware. Neither fits the style but the china was my grandmother’s, the stoneware one of the DW’s and mine first purchases. What about our books, we have had some of them for 25 years. Do we want to drag them half a country away?

We went to the store a few days ago to get some storage bins. We are going to start placing things in them that we want to keep when we move. Keep them safe and dust free and out of the way. Can you get 28 years of memories into a few plastic bins?