The next part of our anniversary weekend started in this closet. We sorted through old memories -- remnants of another life. Rather than look through EVERYTHING, we got rid of the easy stuff, organized the rest, and made a list of projects --projects with deadlines. Projects like the scrapbook I've been meaning to put together for the last eleven years.
I have been carrying the supplies for this scrapbook since I returned from studying abroad in Spain when I was twenty. Every time I clean out, I put the supplies aside under the delusion that some day I will put the scrapbook together. That intended project has been weighing me down for more than a decade. Do you think when I put it aside I have any real intention of completing that scrapbook?
I know the answer, and yet I have a hard time knowing what to do with the stuff. My trip to Spain was life-changing. I want to remember it. How can I throw out those pictures, train tickets, and mementos?
A true minimalist might toss them, but me... well, it will go on the list. I have two months to finish. If this really matters to me, I will do it. If not, it is time to let the project go -- even if I don't toss all of the pictures.
The list helped Trevor and I move through the scary closet, Trevor's office and the garage. When all was finished we had a few bags of trash and a Jeep full of items to donate. By the time our babysitters arrived that night (so we could go out and celebrate our anniversary) we were exhausted --- exhausted, with clean closets.
2 comments:
We have been cleaning out "memories" as well! It takes a bit but I love that every time we do it, we can get rid of just a little more. We went through our mission and school boxes just recently - fun to relive some memories and then tuck them away for another time. I have also been sorting closets - it just feels so good to clean out and have things to throw away or donate . . . and then put the rest back and feel like the closet can breath again :)
I had the same problem with my mission stuff. Then I was asked to talk about it for part of a YM/YW activity and I made a best of the best scrapbook. I'm usually an all or nothing person so I was surprised that after that, I felt like the project was done. The rest of my stuff is in a box, which I will keep, but the scrapbook is perfect as a memory book. If I were to tell someone about the highlights of my mission, everything I put in my one-weekend scrapbook marathon would be it. And that ended up being good enough.
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